I Feel Like A Monster (Rewritten)
by TenshiWarrior
Summary: Not only do Fables live in Fabletown, but the ones known as the Erased. Fables that have long forgotten their stories. One of the Erased is the adopted son of the Sheriff of Fabletown, one by the name of Grim Wolf.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

_**NOTE:**_

 _Hard to believe that it's been three years since I first posted this story, and I'll be honest I've missed it! I've been waiting for the right time to write up the sequel but damn it Telltale, we've waited for so long! Well finally it's going to return next year, and I've decided to do a rewritten version of this. One that won't have as many typos hopefully (Lol)._

 _Sadly though, I know how much you guys liked the crossovers , but this will be like my stories thus far and be a non-crossover. That's the only big change, so I'm sorry if I have upset anybody with this, but this is the route I decided to go on, and I hope you guys can understand, because this way it's less stressful for me._

 _To the first time readers thank you all for taking the time to read this! :D_

 _ **DISCLAIMER:**_

 _The following is a fan-based story. The game The Wolf Among Us and it's story, is owned by Telltale Games, Vertigo, and Bill Willingham. Please support the official release._

* * *

Fabletown.

A place that has existed long since skyscrapers were built in the place the Mundies refer to as the Big Apple.

It's been a safe haven for Fables from all around that have been exiled from a place called the Homelands. I haven't been there myself, but my friends and I have heard many things about it from our parents and others. I heard it was a beautiful place, and many of the Fables that lived there they lived without fear from others.

Huh? Why have I never seen it for myself?

Well that answer is simple really. My friends and I you see, are different from the Fables. We don't remember the stories we originated from.

You see, people like me, go by many names to others.

You can call us, the Unknowns, the Forgotten, or as we're commonly known to many Fables, the Erased.

The reason why we're called this is because like I said, we have no idea what fairytales we come from, or if we even came from the Homelands like the others did. There are the rare occasions that we know exactly what we are, like for example a friend of mine knows she's a witch, and she is part cat. She just has to keep the magic to a minimum and hide her ears so that Mundies don't find out. The Erased like me end up in a place called the Little Star Orphanage, and we wait for the day we can go home to other Fables that are looking to have kids, though can't naturally due to certain reasons.

Some are lucky to get that chance, and to those that are blessed they're lucky enough to end up in a place called the Woodlands. Many call it where the rich ones hang; well the ones that actually kept their riches anyway.

I guess in a way I'm technically lucky.

Okay let me explain who my friends are exactly and who they got adopted by.

First, there's my friend Dusty, the cat witch that I mentioned earlier. She was lucky enough to get adopted by a troll named of Lily awhile back; Don't worry she's glamoured to look exactly like a human. I know what you're thinking, trolls aren't the best parents, hell they eat people for breakfast. That's a little something Mundies came up with. Lily is actually nice but tough. I've meet her a few times so I should know. Though I heard she had gone missing recently, so for the time being she's been staying with her sister, another troll, one by the name of Holly who owns a place called the Trip Trap Bar; Dusty tends to help her out from time to time.

I'm not sure what happened to Lily, but I really hope she's alright wherever she is. I just wish there was something we could do to help.

Next comes Noel and his little sister Daffodil. They were both adopted by Beauty and her husband Beast. They both live in the Woodlands like myself and my best friend. Funny thing was we didn't know they lived there up until two years ago around the time when I met Dusty, since well Beast can get a bit protective at times especially when it comes to his children and wife. I guess that's understandable in a way since, I'm sure everyone's been down that road at one point.

Last but not least there's my best friend I've known ever since I was a kid, a girl by the name of, Autumn. She was adopted by Snow White. That's right the real Snow White, Seven Dwarfs in all; Well in the Mundy version anyway. She and I have been through thick and thin for the last nine years we've known each other. The four of us, work in a place called the Business Office. We tend to help around, like sorting, taking calls, helping out others, more sorting. Sometimes, we even solve our own case, though really considering our age we've only stuck with… Let's just say small things.

Who did I get stuck with you wonder?

Well believe it or not… I got stuck with one who many consider to be the Big Bad Wolf; or at least that's what he was called back in the day when he actually ate people. Yeah, no joke, he was literally known as the Big Bad Wolf, the one who terrorized the three little pigs, the one who ate Red Riding Hood and her grandma, the whole deal. He's not like that now a days; now he just has to keep the peace, and makes sure that Fables not kill each other, while also keeping us a secret from the Mundies. Honestly compared to what we do, he's got the toughest job of them all.

They call him the Sheriff of Fabletown; Sheriff Bigby Wolf if you will.

I'm supposed to take his place one day, but how can I do that when I'm stuck doing… _**Small things**_?

I sat at the table of in the small apartment of 204, wearing a plain white t-shirt and black pants. I read one of the books that I had borrowed from the Business Office. Looking at the clock, it was already way past midnight. Normally I would be asleep at this hour, but I couldn't sleep since I was worried my dad. He had gotten called away earlier that evening to deal with the Woodsman. I think Mr. Toad was complaining about him.

Honest to God I was worried about him.

I know the stories of Red Riding Hood and what the Woodsman had to do in order to prevent her and her grandma from getting digested. Since than him and the Woodsman don't get along well. I mean, the last time they had a confrontation they both ended up paying a visit to Doctor Swineheart. Who knows what could happen now?

I got up from the table and placed the book on the chair. I than went to the kitchen to get a drink; one of my dad's beers to be exact. I know I'm underage, but I can't help but like the taste, despite it being bitter. Just when I was about to take a sip, I soon heard a familiar voice.

"You do realize that Bigby would kill ya if he found out that you've been drinking stash again Grim?"

I turned around and I saw that it was Colin the Pig. One of the three little pigs to be exact.

"I could say the same for you Colin." I said to him after taking one big gulp, "You know, considering that you snuck off the Farm when you're not supposed to."

"Hey, trust me when I say that the Farm is a bad place." Colin told me as I went back to the table, "You would understand if you were in my hooves."

"What are you talking about? From what I've heard the Farm isn't that bad."

"Oh don't to what they fucking tell ya, cuz they don't shit. Besides those are coming from the people that can afford Glamour."

"Aren't you being a little dramatic?"

Colin looked around the apartment and saw that a certain someone wasn't in the apartment.

"I take it that your dad is out?" He asked me just to be sure.

"Yup." I replied, "He got another complaint about the Woodsman from Mr. Toad."

"What did Woody do this time?" He asked me curiously.

"Not sure." I responded honestly, "He left in a hurry before I could even ask."

"Must've been serious than."

"Could be. I mean he's been gone for awhile."

Colin had soon went over to my dad's favorite chair and he plopped himself on top of it, making himself comfortable. "You just going to borrow my old man's chair again?"

"What do you think? I'm not trying this on for size." Colin said to me, "You should get some sleep too Grim. Wouldn't your old timer catching you staying up late again."

I nodded my head to him before saying, "Night Colin."

And just like that, Colin went out like a light. I stretched my arms and let out a yawn. But instead of going to my room, I decided to continue to read the book I borrowed and eventually I fell asleep.

* * *

( _ **Normal P.O.V**_ )

This night turned out to be a hell of a ride for Bigby. He had gotten complaint from Mr. Toad about Woody but when he confronted the bastard he ended up flying out of a window. He just thanked god that it was only a two-story building. Now the only thing he wanted is just two seconds of shuteye. That's all he wanted just a moment of peace.

As he walked to the entrance he heard the sound of branches snapping. Turning to the right he saw a person, a woman from what he could tell quickly hid herself behind a tree.

"Don't make me come over there." Bigby said with a glare.

The person didn't seem to respond.

"Look, I've got an hour paperwork ahead of me, and I had to deal with one asshole for tonight so-"

He was soon cut off when he saw a familiar face wearing a red jacket high heels and leggings which was a friend of his Beauty.

"Sorry Bigby." She said, "Didn't mean to be an asshole."

"Beauty." Was his own way of saying "Hello".

"Hello Bigby." She replied as she stepped off the grass, "I wasn't expecting anyone tonight, and I know this looks a little… Well odd."

Bigby raised an eyebrow, "Why did you hide?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I didn't know who it was, you can't be too careful these days."

"No, you can't"

Beauty looked at the time on her watch, "Damn it, I'm late." She mumbled to herself.

As she walked towards the gate, she stopped for a moment and turned to Bigby, "Please Bigby. Promise you won't tell Beast that you saw me." She said to him, "It's bad enough that he worries about Noel working on cases with you, but it would just make my life a lot easier for me so…"

Her words began to trail off, as Bigby thought of what to do. He has known Beauty and her husband Beast since they came to Fabletown and they've been really good friends since they moved from the Homelands. It is true that Beast has been worried about his wife, but lately he's become even more worried since his adoptive son who is working part time at the office often going in the front lines in the case.

Eventually Bigby had an answer for Beauty, "Sure." Was all he said.

Beauty looked at him, confused since normally Bigby wouldn't agree to things such as this, "You promise?" She asked just to be sure.

"Yeah, I promise." Bigby had replied to her.

She let out a smile to Bigby knowing that she could trust him, "Thank you Bigby. I'll explain it all to you. I promise, but right now I have to go." She opened the gate and walked out of the property of the Woodlands.

Once more she turned to him and said, "Thanks again Bigby. For trusting me really."

Than she simply walked away.

After checking for mail he had called the elevator. Once the elevator arrived Beauty's husband had come down the stairs and saw Bigby entering.

"Bigby wait up!" Beast said as he stopped the doors from closing, "Have you seen my wife? Have you seen Beauty?"

At first Bigby didn't answer which had only got him concerned, "So have you?"

"Nope haven't seen her." Bigby had simply replied

"Oh." Beast had said, "I see, sorry to bother you."

The doors closed as he saw Beast walk away. He had gotten to the second floor as he approached the door that was labeled 204. When he opened it, he saw a familiar black and silver haired teen just slumped over the table with a book in his head. He heard him breathing softly.

"He stayed up late again? Guess he got concerned."

Putting the book to the side, he proceeded to to carry him to his room. He placed him on the bed carefully as not to wake him up, and Grim subconsciously made himself comfortable on his bed.

"Teenagers." He said as he shook his head.

He exited the room, leaving his son to rest. After he did this, he went to the kitchen to get the blood off of his face.

It had already been nine years since he had decided to take Grim in. He was only seven when he had decided to take him in as his son. He was a bit, hesitant at first, though Snow had convinced it would be a good experience for him. And it would be a good opportunity for him to show that he was different unlike how the stories made him out to be. Though he didn't like the idea, he had decided to take up on Snow's advice and wouldn't you know it, it did pay off.

On top of that, who know he would end up having a soft side for the kid?

Here he was now, a sixteen year old boy, working in the Office with him and Snow. Though despite being put on small cases, he got himself into a lot of trouble ( _ **Which is a lot**_ ) mainly when it came to a case he had to deal with on a daily basis. Sometimes he hated how sometimes he took matters into his own hands.

He went to go sit in his chair, but instead he found Colin laying there asleep for God knows how long. As if he didn't have enough to deal with.

"Hey Colin." Bigby said as he poked him, "Get up."

Colin shuffled a little before he opened his eyes; he turned to Colin groggily.

"Oh." He said tiredly, "Hey Bigby."

Bigby looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm in your chair huh?" Colin asked.

"I've only got the one, so yeah." Bigby replied.

Colin took the hint and went to make himself comfortable by the TV, while Bigby himself took a seat in his chair. He took out his cigarette box from his pocket and got himself one.

"Got a smoke?" Colin asked.

Bigby looked up to Colin as he put cigarette between his lips and lit it up. He got up and put one between Colin's lips before lighting it up.

"Thanks." Colin said, "A couple thousand more of these and we'll be even on that house you owe me."

Bigby let out a sigh before going into the kitchen, "This has gotta stop." He said, "You can't keep sneaking off the farm like this."

"The sunshine and fresh they sell is just a bunch of bullshit." Colin said following close behind him, "I didn't escape from the Homelands just to end up in some prison. Don't send me back there Bigby. You don't know what it's like, you've never been there."

Bigby opened the fridge before taking a beer bottle; taking a note that it had been dranked from recently before pouring it into a cup. "Come on, that's a bit dramatic." He said to the pig.

Colin had chuckled slightly, "Funny. Grim said the same thing to me."

"Did he now?" He said, taking a sip from the cup after placing the cigarette between his fingers.

"That for me?" Colin asked, eyeing the cup.

Bigby gave an immediate response as he walked by him towards his desk, "Nope."

"Look, the house didn't blow itself down Bigby." Colin reminded him, "That's all I'm saying. Do what you will, it's reason enough. Now I'm not saying that it's reason enough to have definitely offer me a drink but… It might've help ease some of the pain that you once caused me yes?"

Bigby turned over to Colin; though in response, he took the cup and drank a huge gulp.

"Nice." Colin said, "I take it all back… _**THIS**_ is why everyone hates you."

"It is better to be feared than it is loved, you know who said that?"

"Yeah, some sad asshole. Eating alone."

Bigby rolled his eyes at this before returning to the living room, with Colin following behind him. "Well, maybe, hates not the right word." Colin said, "They fear you more than they do hate you. You did eat a lot of people back in your day."

"I thought we were supposed to have a fresh start here." Bigby said as he took another sip, "I can't go around and change the past."

"Yeah, well you can't change people's memories either." The pig told him, "Now, I'm not saying that it's fair, I'm just saying that it's real. People are afraid of you, I mean, look at your hands."

He of course was referring to Bigby's bloodied knuckles. No doubt it was from his early encounter with Woody earlier that night.

"Who did you get into a fight with?" Colin asked curiously, "Surely you weren't going around punching Mundies."

"I was doing my job believe it or not."

"Your job is to beat the shit out of Fables?"

"Well, sometimes I take them to the Farm."

"Fuck. You."

Bigby let out a sigh as he went to sit down in his favorite and only chair. He placed his cup on the side before saying, "You think my job is easy? You try keeping a bunch of Fables from killing each other. I mean how do you think this all works?"

"How?" He asked the Sheriff.

"By being big, and being bad." He had replied.

"By being big, and being bad." Colin repeated before saying, "Don't say that shit in front of people. It's embarrassing, because that's the kind of attitude that gets you into trouble. I'm sure you're shitty to everyone you come across."

"Not everyone."

"Name one."

"You already know who? My son, Grim."

"Even though biologically he ain't your kid?"

They both sat in silence for a moment or two, before Colin spoke up again, "Life's easier with friends you know? And we live a long fucking time. Take a page from Grim's book. He's got friends that care about him, and he treats them as if they were his second family. His life has been easy for the past nine years. I know you like this whole lone wolf thing, but I've seen the way you look at Snow; you're not fooling me."

"Will you shut up?"

"Well maybe if my throat isn't so parched, I still wouldn't be talking."

"Wait, that doesn't make any-"

"Just give me a drink please!"

Bigby let out a sigh, "Colin, I'm tired as hell, I flew out of a two story window. All I want is two seconds of shut eye before-"

Once again there was nothing but silence between the two. Bigby heaved out a sigh before he asked him, "Look if I give you this, will you let me sleep?"

"Yeah, alright, probably." Colin said.

Bigby shook his head as he got up and bought the drink over to him; He placed it beside him.

"Thanks Bigby." He said, before standing up to drink it.

Bigby than went back over to his chair, and leaned back before shutting his eyes.

* * *

- _ **Nine Years Ago**_ -

 _It was the coldest year in winter. Bigby didn't mind the cold sometimes but anything was better than a muggy day in the summer. He smoked his cigarette as he waited outside what looked to be a candy store as he waited for Snow. Tomorrow was the day which Snow was going to be a legal mother. Recently she had filled out papers at the Little Star Orphanage, to adopt a sweet little girl one by the name of Autumn; an Erased like most of the children there._

 _She stepped out of the store with a small brown paper bag, with single apple on a stick, covered in caramel._

" _Sorry to keep you waiting." She said to Bigby, "The line was a lot longer than I thought."_

" _It's fine, the wait wasn't long anyway." Bigby reassured her as he got rid of his cigarette._

 _They both started to walk down the street in the direction of the Woodlands Apartment; Bigby had decided to make conversation._

" _So… I take it that girl likes apples?" He asked._

" _She told me that she always wanted to try a candy apple." Snow replied with a warm smile, "I thought it would be a great welcome home present."_

" _And you're still sure it's a good idea to bring a kid to the Woodlands? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Crane."_

" _It's as I told you before it's fine. Besides, you know as well as I do that children like Autumn need a family."_

" _I know that, I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with it. Though if there's one thing I do know, is that you'll be a great mom."_

 _Snow turned to Bigby, smiling to him, "Thank you Bigby. You know, you should think of adopting too. I bet you would do good as a dad."_

 _Bigby gave sort of a shocked look to Snow by what she was suggesting, "What me?" He asked before saying, "No Snow I couldn't. I already got enough on my plate as it is."_

" _Still, it would be a good experience for you. I can see you as a good role model."_

" _Right, I'll believe that when-"_

 _He stopped when he felt something tug at the ankle of his pants. He looked down and his widened slightly at what he saw; Snow on the other hand looked at him with confusion._

" _Bigby? What is-?" She asked before looking down, she let out a small gasp._

 _What was before them, was small little pup, looking about a week old. Bigby could faintly see the pups ribs and it appeared to be whimpering in distress and pain. There appeared to be a fresh wound on the pup's head and it's fur was black and an unnatural silver color. He looked tired, and probably had been running for days from what Bigby could tell. Bigby had picked up his scent and he was shocked to find out exactly what the pup was._

" _What kind of a dog is that?" Snow asked curiously._

" _He's not a dog." Bigby said, kneeling down picking up the little pup, seeing that the pup had a pair of golden eyes, "He's a wolf."_

 _Snow's eyes widened in shock at this, "A wolf?!" She said almost yelling, "But I thought you were the only-"_

" _I know." He said cutting her off, "I thought that too."_

 _He had soon realized how cold the pup was; as he stood up, he wrapped him in his coat to keep him warm._

" _Come on, let's hurry back to the Woodlands." Bigby said to Snow._

 _Snow nodded her head and they both went down the block with the small pup in hand._

 _Luckily they had gotten back to the apartments without being seen by any Mundy; they immediately went straight to Bigby's own apartment. When they arrived they entered Bigby's spare bedroom, and placed him on the bed. They had put a thick blanket over the little pup as to keep him warm, and some water to drink and some food. The pup drank from the small bowl and ate from the other weakly as Snow cleaned up the wound on his head. When the pup had enough Bigby took the bowls into the kitchen before returning the pup and Snow. He started to pet the wolf on the head as to comfort him, since he was still whimpering, from the pain. Snow soon finished up patching up the wound on his head and the wolf pup rested on the mattress as it had struggled to keep it's eyes open._

" _God, he looks so small and fragile." Snow said as she started to the little wolf too; the little pup leaned in for her touch, "I wonder what could've happened to him."_

" _He's pretty small. Most likely he's the runt of the litter." Bigby said, "That would explain why he looks half starved but it doesn't answer a whole lot."_

 _Bigby flinched slightly when the little pup started to lick his fingers, before doing the same with Snow's._

" _I guess that's his way of saying thank you." Snow said, giving him one last pat._

 _They saw the little pup's eyes finally close as he had gone to sleep. Bigby and Snow soon stepped out of the room leaving the little pup to rest._

 _Snow let out a sigh as she took a seat by the small table of the small apartment, "I didn't think there would be even another wolf." She said honestly, "Do you think he's a Fable?"_

" _Yeah I do." Bigby replied, "But he's an Erased, so it's likely he won't be in one of the books."_

" _How do you know he's an Erased?"_

" _He's eyes and fur. They both have an unnatural color. Though it's weird, he's not like Colin or Mr. Toad."_

" _Maybe he's like you?"_

" _No… I don't think so. He acted more animal than he did human."_

 _Snow let out a sigh as she pondered on what they should do. "... Well I say until until we have more information on, this little pup, we can't tell Mayor Cole or Deputy Mayor Crane."_

 _Bigby raised his eyebrow, just a little bit shocked at Snow had said; but despite this he nodded his head in agreement, "Telling Mayor Cole is one thing, but Crane… I can definitely say that he won't take it well."_

" _What would Crane not take well?"_

 _They both jumped slightly when a third voice came over them. They both turned and saw that it was Colin who had snuck off the Farm again. Bigby let out a sigh, "How long have you been there?"_

" _I only heard about you guys keeping something from your bosses." Colin said before asking, "So what is it that you're going to keep from them?"_

 _Once again they both looked to one another and they both had the same thought on what they should do. They could trust Colin enough with this. "We… Found an Erased earlier." Snow explained, "He was injured and starving, so we took him back here. Not only that, he's a little wolf pup."_

" _Another wolf!?" Colin exclaimed, "Jesus, as if one wolf wasn't enough."_

" _It's not like that!" Bigby said, "It was strange, he acted more like an animal than he did a person."_

" _Did he now?" Colin asked, "Well where is he?"_

" _In the spare bedroom sleeping." Bigby said pointing to where the little pup was._

 _Colin went over and entered the room where the pup slept. "Just don't tell anyone about this Colin, at least not until we have more information to go on."_

" _Yeah sure." Colin said in the other room, "But, you sure you guys picked up a wolf pup?"_

 _They both raised their eyebrows at this, as they looked perplexed._

" _Um… Why do you ask?" Snow asked._

 _Colin soon came peeking out of the room, "Well I'm only asking because that uh, quote on quote pup is suddenly a little kid now."_

 _Both of them stood up abruptly and quickly went back to the room just as Colin finished his sentence. When they looked they saw a small bump that was bigger to where the little pup was sleeping. Bigby went over to the bed and moved some of the covers, only to find instead of the small wolf pup, there was a little boy, no more than seven breathing softly and having bandages over where Snow had treated the wound earlier. His hair was of two colors; on the right their was silver, while the left was black. He let out a small groan as he shifted slightly._

" _Holy shit." Was the only thing Bigby could say._

 _The little boy opened his eyes revealing that his eyes were golden like the wolf he had encountered; he looked at Bigby with tired eyes, as he asked only one thing._

" _...Who… Are you…?"_

* * *

 _-_ _ **Present**_ _-_

 _ **BANG! BANG!**_

Bigby opened his eyes when he heard someone knocking at the door. Just as this happened, his son having a disheveled hair, came out from his room having heard the sounds.

"Dad…" He groaned rubbing his eyes that were of gold, "... Someones at the door."

"Yeah, I got that." Bigby said as he stood up, rubbing his eyes.

Bigby went and approached the door, thinking it was the girl that he had helped out earlier that evening. He opened the door but he was surprised to find that instead of the girl, it was actually Snow White. Grim looked to see who it was and he was surprised to see that it was Snow too.

"Bigby!" She said.

"Snow?" Bigby said surprised to see her.

"Miss White?" Grim said surprised to see her too, "What are you doing here?"

"Come with me, both of you!" She said.

Bigby and Grim looked to one another both of them equally perplexed, but they didn't hesitate as they walked out the door and followed Snow down the stairs of the Woodlands. They both noticed that Snow had an alarmed look on her face, and she was looking around making sure that no one was following her or was in front of them.

"Snow?" Bigby said.

At first she didn't seemed to have heard her, she just kept walking still looking alarmed about something.

"Snow!" He yelled.

"What!?" She snapped suddenly, making Bigby and Grim flinch.

Snow took a deep breath, calming herself down, "... Sorry." She said now calm, "What is it?"

"What happened?" Bigby asked her.

"You seem a bit more stressed than usual." Grim pointed out, "Is everything alright?"

"I just can't get into it right this second." Snow replied, "Besides these walls are paper thin, so we'll talk about it outside."

They approached the door, and they caught glimpse of a girl at the age of fifteen like Grim, having red orange hair tied into a low ponytail with a yellow ribbon; she wore a green baggy hoodie over a casual dark blue dress with a simple gray tie. Grim's eyes widened when he recognized who the person was.

"Autumn!" He called out as he ran through the door.

Autumn flinched when she heard the door open suddenly, but she calmed down when she realized it was Grim; Around her neck she appeared to have small chalkboard with a chalk holder on the side. In her right ear, she had some sort of a device that was in the shade of yellow like her ribbon. She turned to him revealing her light purple eyes. She started to make hand gestures, though Grim noticed that she was shaking.

"Thank goodness it's you." She said through her hands.

"Are you okay?" Grim asked all concerned making hand gestures as well, "What happened?"

Autumn in reply pointed over to a jacket covering something on the steps. He looked to Autumn and she simply shifted where she sat. Grim stood up and moved to the jacket reaching for it, though Bigby stopped him and he in turn removed the jacket.

They both let out a gasp when they saw that sitting on the steps was the head of a young Fable.

( _ **Opening Theme: Serial Experiments Lain Opening-Duvet Performed By Brad Holmes**_ )


	2. Chapter 2: The Girl with the Ribbon

( _ **Opening Theme: Serial Experiments Lain Opening-Duvet Performed by Brad Holmes**_ )

- _ **Tenement Building; Hours Earlier**_ -

 _It was just another normal night in Fabletown, at least, it was to a certain Sheriff. Bigby had gotten a complaint about the Woodsman or as others would like to know him as Woody. Everyone that lived in the building pretty much complained, and say on a daily basis that he's an asshole._

 _But not one complained more that of a person by the name of Mr. Toad._

 _Just as the cab dropped him off, Bigby doubled checked the address to make sure he got it right._

 _He soon approached the door and opened; there by the staircase he saw a small green toad wearing a robe, a white shirt and black pants looking up the steps._

" _Mr. Toad." Bigby greeted._

" _Oh shit." The toad named, Mr. Toad mumbled before turning to him, "Bigby! Listen mate, I know I don't look different. It's a problem I get it it, but I just stepped out of the apartment, but I just stepped out of the apartment to see the kind of damage this drunk shit has been doing."_

 _Bigby gave Mr. Toad a look, raising his eyebrow to him. "Just cut me a break yeah?" Mr. Toad said nervously, "I'll get me glamour first thing in the morning, cross my heart."_

" _I've heard enough of your excuses Toad." Bigby stated, "This is unacceptable. If you can't afford to look human, you're going to the Farm, it's as simple as that."_

" _You can't send me up to live with those animals!" Mr. Toad said._

 _Bigby gave him a quizzical look as if to say "Really?"_

" _You know what I mean!" Mr. Toad said._

" _Look, just go see a witch." He told him, "Get a glamour. Whatever it costs it's worth it."_

" _Bigby they're bleeding me dry mate! The quality of the spells keep going down but the prices keep climbing up! Do you have any idea how much it costs for me to get an entire family glamour!?"_

" _Sorry Toad, but I don't make the rules. Believe me when I say you_ _ **DON'T**_ _want me to catch you out of glamour again."_

 _Just as this was said, what looked to be an air conditioner fell from two stories. "Fucking hell!" Mr. Toad exclaimed, "See!? This is what I called you about Bigby! I'm telling you this is the last straw, he has to go!"_

 _Bigby looked up the steps before looking back to Toad, "So what set him off exactly?"_

 _Toad had replied, "Who knows what it is this time. Man's got a hair trigger. I avoid him as much as possible."_

" _When did he start drinking?"_

" _Not sure if he ever stopped."_

 _Just than they heard a loud sound from upstairs; it had appeared to be the sound of a loud bang._

" _ **FUCK YOU!**_ " _They heard a woman's voice; which had caught them both by surprise._

" _I didn't know anyone else was up there." Mr. Toad said to Bigby truthfully._

 _Immediately after he heard this, Bigby headed up the stairs as Mr. Toad stayed where he was. He had gone up to the second floor where the Woodsman lived and saw that the hallway looked to be a complete wreck. He heard overlapping voices coming from the apartment where the Woodsman stayed. The door busted open with one hard kick and there he saw the Woodsman with a woman with short black hair wearing a green halter top and short black skirt, having a purple ribbon around her neck._

 _She was covered with bruises and was just given a hard slap by Woody causing her to stumble slightly._

" _ **WOAH! WOAH! HEY!**_ " _Bigby yelled charging at Woody, pinning him to the wall._

" _You got something on your face." The girl with the ribbon said._

 _Woody look to her giving her a glare, "The fuck are you talking about you stupid c-"_

 _He was suddenly cut off when the girl with the ribbon spit right into his face; causing blood to stain._

" _ **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!**_ " _Woody yelled, "_ _ **YOU FUCKER!**_ "

" _Alright, why'd you hit her!?" Bigby yelled before he was hit in the head by Woody. The impact caused Bigby's nose to bleed slightly; Woody cracked his neck._

" _What are you going to fuckin' do huh!?" Woody said with a drunken tone in his voice, "Get the fuck out before you get the axe again!"_

" _Woody this is your last warning!" Bigby said to him, "If you keep this up I'll have no choice but to put you down!"_

" _Put_ _ **ME**_ _down!? You forgot Wolf, that's not how it went last time!"_

" _This isn't_ _ **LAST**_ _time."_

 _Just like that they both entered a fight. Bigby ended up shoving Woody into his couch, to the sink, and towards the spring bed which contained no mattress. Eventually Bigby shoved him over to the bookshelf where his AX had laid. Woody picked up the axe and tried to take a swing at him, but missed and instead the axe was stuck on the floor. Bigby grabbed Woody's axe and used the back of the axe to hit Woody in the jaw; the impact caused Woody's jaw to dislocate._

 _Woody fell to the ground hard, as Bigby caught his breath before turning to the young woman. "You should probably get out of here." Bigby said to her._

" _Look, I'm not leaving until I get what's mine." She said to him._

 _Woody started to speak, despite his jaw being dislocated,_ " _Yer nod gedding shid, bidch. Aisle fuhged yew in de ground."_

" _Hey! If you can't be nice, I'm going to have to make you wait outside." Bigby said to Woody theratingly._

" _Fughed shid…" Woody said feeling his jaw, "Yew bogue buy jaw, yew badturd…"_

" _And still you talk."_

" _Fughed… Yew…"_

 _He went over to the woman who was doing what she could to cover herself up. "What are you even doing here?" Bigby asked her._

" _ **These lips are sealed**_ …" _The girl with the ribbon replied._

 _Bigby raised his eyebrow at this, looking at the girl perplexed. She let out a sigh before saying, "Look this is just the start of a shitty night. I just need the money that he owes me and than I'll be gone."_

" _Why was hitting you?"_

" _... You should probably ask him that."_

" _I know. But I asked you first."_

 _At first she didn't say anything; though eventually she had replied, "He asked me if I recognized him… Knew who he was, I said that I didn't. He started to beating on me, than you should up, and started beating on him." She turned over to Woody, "That about cover it hon?"_

" _I'b duh Woodsman yoo hoar…" Woody said, as he eventually got his own jaw back in place, "Aye saveed liddle reed riding hood frum this... monster... I cut dis figger oben... and filled hids belly full of... stones..._ _ **AND THREW HIM IN THE FUCKING RIVER**_ _! That's who I fucking am, you stupid bitch!"_

" _Hey! What did I say!? I said be nice… Or you wait…_ _ **OUTSIDE!**_ " _Bigby yelled before charging at Woody again._

 _The very next thing he knew, he found himself and Woody flying out the window and onto the street below, blacking out momentarily._

 _When he came too, he found himself on top of the now crushed car, groaning slightly from the pain. He looked up he saw that Woody was just nearby, passed out._

" _Ah shit…"_

 _He soon sensed the presence of someone as the person laid back on the car. "Hey Toad…" He groaned._

" _My car…" Mr. Toad said speechless, by what had just happened._

" _Yeah." He said, "Just give me a second…"_

" _No, no, by all means, take your time no rush." Mr. Toad said crossing his arms, "Do you want me to get you a pillow? A magazine perhaps?"_

 _Bigby turned over to Mr. Toad as he groaned, "I uh… Hope you got insurance…"_

" _I can't be mad." Mr. Toad said, "I called you, and you come to help, I can't be mad… But even when you help, things end up more fucked up than they started."_

 _Soon enough a shadow had loomed over Mr. Toad; when he turned to look, he wasn't at all surprised by who he saw. "Well, at least your not fucking dead."_

 _Bigby picked up his head again he saw Woody standing up from the ground; he dragged him off of the car roof and pinned him to a sign nearby and he started to choke him out. He tried to get out of his grip but had no such luck as his grip tightened._

" _ **I KNOW YOU'RE FUCKING IN THERE!**_ " _Woody began to shout, "_ _ **COME ON OUT YOU BLOODY DOG! I'LL PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY YOU FUCKING MONGREL! COME ON OUT WOLF!**_ "

 _Bigby's eyes changed to a yellowish green color, as he glared over the Woodsman. Before the change could fully come, something had pierced him on the top of his head; it was his own axe. He fell over releasing Bigby and his savior turned to out to be the girl with the ribbon. She looked to him, sighing with relief when she saw that he was alright; she than approached Woody and started to search his pockets. Bigby took a deep breath and blinked; his eyes changed back to normal._

 _He soon approached the woman, asking her, "What are you doing?"_

" _I'm just getting what he owes me." The girl with the ribbon replied, before asking him, "Are you alright back there? I mean your eyes and the teeth, you're not supposed to do that right?"_

" _Not if I can avoid it." Bigby replied._

 _The girl with the ribbon had gotten something from his pockets, which had been two quarters and a dime. "Great." She said as she threw the coins to the ground. She stood up from the ground as she started to kick Woody. "The guys got an axe in his brain." Bigby said, "He won't be feeling that."_

" _It's more for me." The girl with the ribbon said, "He'll be fine."_

" _Aislle kill yew. Yew fuckin' bidch." Woody started to say with his speech slurred once again._

" _Here. Let me help you with that." The girl with the ribbon said. She stepped on the axe, pushing it deeper into his skull making him groan._

 _Bigby pulled the girl off of Woody while he said, "He's had enough."_

" _He's a Fable." She said, "Son-of-a-bitch can take plenty."_

 _With that being said, the girl with the ribbon, took her purse and walked away from Woody. As Bigby pulled the axe out of Woody's head he noticed that she was trying to light a cigarette she had gotten out from her purse. "Shit, just come on." She said using her lighter._

 _He soon tossed the Woodsman axe to side and approached the girl with the ribbon._

" _Here, let me." He said, taking his lighter from his pocket and got a small flame going with a simple couple of clicks._

 _She placed the cigarette between her lips, and leaned in close lighting it up slightly. "Thanks." She said as she took a puff._

" _Who… Do you work for really?"_

" _...I'm sorry, but…_ _ **These lips are sealed**_ _."_

 _The girl with the ribbon leaned back onto light post nearby; she looked to him before gesturing to what she wore around her neck._

" _Hey…" She said with a small smile, "... Do you like my ribbon?"_

" _... Beautiful." Bigby couldn't help but comment._

" _Thanks." She said, strangely enough with a sad smile._

" _Huh… That's funny…"_

" _What is?"_

" _I… I feel like we've met before."_

" _... We probably have. We all knew each other at one point or another, even the Erased… But things change I guess."_

" _... I guess."_

 _Bigby turned around to go and take care of Woody, but he saw that he wasn't there laying unconscious on the street anymore; the only thing that was left behind was a small splatter of blood. "Shit…" Bigby snarled. Knowing where he was he turned to go an get Woody, but-_

" _Stop." The girl with the ribbon said, as she took ahold of his wrist, "We don't have to make this any more of a thing than it already is."_

" _He hit you." Bigby said to her, "He needs to pay for it."_

" _He's got nothing to give chief." She said, "Trust me I've checked. Besides, I swung an axe into the guy's head. So I say that we're even."_

" _Maybe I should be arresting you."_

" _I'm not going to be doing this job for very long, so now might be your only chance."_

 _The two of them looked away from on another, creating an awkward silence, as one didn't know what to say to the other. Bigby soon spoke up again, "How much was it he owed you?"_

" _A hundred." The girl with the ribbon replied._

" _I'm guessing it would be bad if you were to show up empty handed?"_

 _The girl with the ribbon turned to him and smiled to him reassuringly, "... I'll be fine."_

 _Bigby let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I wish I could help."_

 _The girl with the ribbon shook her head as she still said with a smile, "It's okay, I'll be fine really. You got me out of a bad situation. I really appreciate it."_

" _Still…" He said, "... I'm gonna need a statement."_

" _I wish I could right now, but I have to go drop off what I have." The girl with the ribbon said._

" _Meet me back at my office than."_

" _It's a little late for an office visit. I'll just swing by your apartment."_

 _Bigby's eyes widened slightly from shock, "How did you know-?"_

" _You and your only son live in the smallest apartment in the Woodlands." The girl with the ribbon said cutting him off, "Everyone knows that."_

" _That's… Good to know." Bigby couldn't help but say awkwardly._

 _The girl with the ribbon couldn't help but laugh a bit at Bigby's expression, before wiping off some of the blood on his face. "You should really get cleaned up." She said, "You look like shit, and I don't use that term lightly."_

" _That's a little on the harsh side." Bigby said with an amused smile._

" _Hey I tell like it is, when I can." The girl with the ribbon said._

 _She looked to the ground fixing up some of her hair. Bigby noticed that she had a nervous look on her face, which he couldn't help but feel puzzled by. "Hey…" She soon said, "... I need to tell you something…"_

" _... What is it?" Bigby asked with a raised eyebrow._

 _She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned into his ear, whispering, "_ _ **You're not as bad as everyone says you are.**_ "

 _With a kiss on his cheek, she walked down the block leaving the Tenement Building, and Bigby couldn't help but watched as she disappeared into the night. With a wave of her hand, she had only said one thing to him._

" _I'll see you around…_ _ **Wolf**_ _."_

* * *

 _-_ _ **Present; Front of the Woodlands**_ _-_

Bigby couldn't help but feel shock and horrified by the head that was before him, his son, Snow, and her daughter, basically just right on their doorstep. Though at the same time feeling shock and horrified, he also couldn't help but feel solemn. This girl suffered a fate worse than death, and he couldn't help but feel at fault with himself. When she had said to him earlier that same night, "I won't be doing this long", he didn't think this is what she had meant by it.

His son Grim however was more petrified than himself, since this was his first time actually seeing a dead Fable. He felt everything within his stomach come rushing up just by looking at the head. He put his hand over his mouth and quickly turned the side falling to his knees before he started to throw up, leaving a small puddle of gunk. Concerned, Autumn stood up from the steps and rushed over to him. She pat him on his back as to help him out.

Grim turned to her, just as she signed to him worryingly, "Are you okay?"

Grim replied, as he signed back, "I'll be fine, it just surprised me. That's all." He wiped the last of the gunk and Autumn helped him to stand up. When he turned and walked back to his father, he noticed the look in his eyes as he looked at the deceased.

"Dad?" Grim asked, "... What's wrong?"

He was surprised when he didn't get an answer from him.

Snow soon spoke up, "Did… You know this girl Bigby? She isn't a Mundy right?"

"No." Bigby said finally speaking up.

Autumn was heard writing on the small chalkboard that hung around her neck which drew Bigby's attention as she turned it to face him. It had read, "Who was she than if she's not a Mundy?"

Bigby replied to her question; he knew she could hear him thanks to the device resting soundly in her ear, "She is…" He stopped himself for a moment, "... Was a prostitute."

Their eyes widened as they couldn't help but gasp slightly in shock at this news.

"She was?" Grim asked.

Bigby simply nodded his head in reply.

"How do you know that?" Snow asked him.

Bigby started to explain it to them, "The Woodsman. He attacked her and I stepped in. Then he threatened to kill us both."

"The Woodsman?" Grim said, "You mean from that complaint you got from Mr. Toad?"

"Yeah." Bigby said.

Snow's eyes widened slightly at a thought, "No… You don't think he…?"

"I don't think anything yet." He said, before looking at the head again, "Give me a second…"

He took a moment to gather his thoughts as he looked to the head of the young Fable. Bigby looked up to Snow as he asked, "Who, found her anyway?"

"Autumn did." Snow replied, "She was coming back home after meeting with Dusty."

Bigby nodded as he looked to Autumn who had already started to scribble down on her chalkboard again. After a few short moments, she turned the chalkboard to him and it had read, "She was like this when I found her. I grabbed Grimble's jacket than told mother, before she went to tell you and Grim."

"Did you see anyone else?" He asked, "Like someone leaving here when you came back?"

Autumn shook her head in reply.

"What about a Mundy? See anyone like that, or a cab maybe?"

She shook her head again, and that was all Bigby needed.

"Bigby, you don't think one of us did this do you?" Snow asked the Sheriff nervously.

"There hasn't been a murder in Fabletown in a long time." Bigby had replied.

"All the more reason why we shouldn't start a panic." She said to him.

Grim couldn't help but nod his head in agreement, "Who knows how the others would react if they found out about this."

"It would surely cause chaos." Autumn added as she signed to Grim.

Snow looked up and noticed a couple of Mundies walked down the block and she couldn't help but feel nervous. She took a deep breath before saying to them, signing for Autumn, "Have a look around. We don't have much time before people start coming through here."

"You got it Miss White." Grim said, before signing to Autumn to follow him.

She nodded to the young teen, and they both went to the side of the building, as Bigby inspected the head further. The two teens checked around the side of the building to find anything out of the ordinary; to which they did. They both looked around through the trash cans and such, though so far, they couldn't find anything that stood out so far. That is until Autumn saw what appeared to be a piece of fabric.

She had gotten Grim's attention by tapping him on the shoulder.

"What is it?" He asked as he signed to her.

Autumn than showed him the piece of fabric she had found just nearby. "What do you think this is?" Autumn asked through sign.

Grim took the piece of fabric from her hand and took a closer look at it. "It looks like, it was from jeans." Grim said as he signed, "Though I doubt we'll know what designer made this."

"Just in case though we should save it." Autumn signed, "It might be useful later."

"Good idea." Grim signed back, before putting the fabric in his pocket, "Come on let's keep looking."

Autumn nodded her head and they both continued to look for some more clues as to who brought the head of the young Fable here to the Woodlands.

At the front entrance Bigby had examined the head closely trying to put together what exactly happened. He would move the head slightly to see if he could find any other clues, but their was nothing as of yet. But he could tell one thing was certain.

"She was placed here with some care." Bigby said to Snow.

"What do you mean?" She asked him curiously.

Bigby had explained, "You can tell she wasn't just tossed her. She was deliberately put here, for all of us to find."

Snow shook her head at the thought, "... What kind of a monster would do something like this?"

Bigby had stayed silent at this point as his thoughts wandered to the head before him. That's when he noticed something that he didn't see at first glance when he checked the head. He noticed that her mouth was open slightly.

"What is…?"

He reached into the mouth and felt something. He pulled it out and it was revealed to be the purple ribbon that the girl was wearing earlier that evening. However he noticed something tied to it.

"Is that…?" Snow asked.

"It's her ribbon and ring." He said, looking at the ring closely, "Looks like there's some kind of symbol on it."

Snow looked to the ring as Bigby showed it to her. She looked at the symbol closely, "I… Don't recognize it. Though this symbol might be in the books."

"Dad! Miss White!" They heard Grim call out.

They both turned to where Grim and Autumn were and they saw Autumn waving over to them and pointing to the fence that had been nearby.

"You guys have got to come see this!" Grim said.

Both Bigby and Snow looked to one another before going over to where Grim and Autumn stood. When they did, they saw that up on the fence it was covered in the shade of red. From the smell Bigby could tell that it was blood and that it was fresh. "Maybe this blood belongs to the killer?" Grim suggested.

"Bigby?" Snow asked.

Bigby took a whiff in the air before saying, "It's hard to tell, the scent is all… Fuzzy."

He felt someone tap him on the arm, and turned only to see that it was Autumn who had wrote something on her chalkboard. She showed to Bigby what she had written as she had a look of solemn on her face; It had read the following, "What kind of a person would do something like this?"

"... Don't worry." Bigby said to her, "We'll figure this out."

The four went back to the front entrance of the building as they couldn't but look over the head of the now dead Fable before them. Autumn couldn't help but look away as Grim turned around to hug her. Snow sighed as she said, "We should… Move her. Before anyone else shows up."

Autumn signed to Snow, asking her, "You don't think she's an Erased, like me and Grim do you?"

"I'm not sure." Snow replied as she signed to her, "But if she is a Fable, she'll be one of the books, I'm sure of it."

Grim looked at the head again as he couldn't help but cringe, "...Dad?" He said turning to him, "...Do you have any idea why someone would even do this? Why someone would just leave the head here?"

"This is a message." Bigby stated to them earning a look of confusion, "Whoever did this wasn't exactly hiding it. The placement of the head… It's exact. Purposeful. She was placed here purposeful, for us to fine. _**All of us**_."

The three of them took this information in as they understood his words. "Yes…" Snow agreed, "... That would make sense."

"Yeah." Grim added, "That sick person, he _**wanted**_ us to see his work."

Bigby took one last look at the girl, as he couldn't help but have a sympathetic and a guilty look. It wasn't long before he heard Snow say, "... You know… I'm going to have to report this to Crane."

Bigby rolled his eyes at this as Grim couldn't help but let an annoyed groan at this. "Do we really have to tell him?" He asked.

"Grim, I know you, and your father have your… History with him." Snow said, "But as long as King Cole is away, he'll be acting as Mayor. You have to understand, that we can't hide anything from him. Especially something like this."

"Mother's right." Autumn signed to him, "It isn't right to just hide these kind of things from Mr. Crane."

"I know it's not right, but, I just can't help but not like the guy." Grim said as he signed his words.

"Still…" Bigby said to Snow, "We should wait until we have more to tell him. Right now all we know there's a girl dead. Telling Crane isn't going to change that."

"Exactly!" Grim said, before turning to Snow and Autumn, signing for his friend, "The only thing we have is probable cause to whoever did this to the poor girl. If we tell him about this now, who knows how he's going to react."

Snow gave them an unsure look as did Autumn as she twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"I just don't want him to interfere." Bigby said to her, "... That's all."

She finally gave out a sigh as she said, "It does sound reasonable, but… I'll think about it."

Snow soon ascended up the steps about to enter the Woodlands; she turned around back to them, "Look, whether telling Crane or not is not important right now, all we need to do now is find out whoever did this." She signed over to Autumn telling her to come with her. Autumn nodded and followed close behind her mother. Before she followed her inside she turned to Grim, signing with a smile, "See you at work tomorrow."

"Right back at you." Grim said as he signed back, "Feel better okay?"

Autumn nodded her head and went inside, following her mother back to their apartment. Grim soon turned to his father, "Hey dad, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Bigby asked back as he covered the girl's head with Grimble's coat.

Grim soon replied, "... If she really was a prostitute like you said she is, do you think, her pimp could've done this?"

Bigby raised his eyebrow at this, "What makes you say that?"

His son told him, "I've read it in the Book of Crime once when I was at the city library. They're many reasons why someone would kill another. Basic reasons really. Most of the reasons someone would kill another is for money." He soon noticed the look that Bigby was giving him; he raised his hands in the air as he said, "It's only a theory dad, I'm just hoping it's not true, but I'm just saying it's something we should consider."

With the jacket now over the head, he wrapped it good and tight and held it like a basketball as he thought about what his son said. He did notice that she was having money trouble when she was searching Woody earlier that night. It could be possible, and he would consider it to be one of possibilities as to why she was killed. Though even so, he couldn't help but think…

Was it really the reason why she was killed?

"We'll talk about it more at the Office tomorrow." Bigby said as he gently pushed Grim towards the door, "Right now it's way past your curfew."

Grim couldn't help but laugh slightly at that, "What do I look like a five year old?"

With that the two of them went back into the Woodlands, calling it a night, for now.

( _ **Ending Theme: Red Garden Ending 1-Rock The LM.C Performed By LM.C**_ )


	3. Chapter 3: Book of Fables

- _ **Nine Years Ago; Woodlands Apartment 204**_ -

 _After the young boy came too, Bigby and Snow were just as surprised as ever that he didn't recognize any of them. He just looked to the both of them, like it was his first time seeing them. In fact he couldn't remember anything else beyond only a few certain things. They had him wear one of Bigby's shirts as Swineheart checked on him, to see exactly what was wrong with him. The little boy sat on edge of the bed of the spare bedroom as he did this while Bigby and Snow waited in the living area of the small apartment. The doctor soon lit a small light in one of his eyes, causing it to dilate._

" _Just follow the light." He said to the little boy._

 _The boy did as he was told as his eye moved with the light; after this was done he put the light away in his bag._

" _Can you tell me your name?" Swineheart asked as he continued to test his reflexes._

" _... Grim." The little boy replied in a somewhat nervous tone._

" _Are you a Fable or a Mundy?"_

" _... Fable sir. But… I'm an Erased."_

" _Do you remember how you got here, or how you had gotten those injuries?"_

 _The little boy named Grim shook his head in reply._

" _Your name, and the fact that your an Erased is the only thing you remember?"_

 _The little boy nodded his head, before he looked down to the floor. "Thank you for your time." Swineheart said as he stood, "Excuse me."_

 _With that said, Swineheart left the spare bedroom shutting the door behind him, just as Grim laid back down in the bed. Bigby and Snow stood up from where they sat as they saw Swineheart was done examining him. "Well?" Bigby asked him, "How's the kid?"_

" _Will he be alright?" Snow asked._

 _Swineheart had replied, "Physically he'll be alright, and will recover from his wounds in due time, I can't say the same for his mental health I'm afraid."_

 _Bigby and Snow looked to the Doctor befuddled by this. "What do you mean his mental health?" Snow asked._

" _While I cannot determine the cause of it…" Swineheart had explained, "... I'm afraid this young boy has post traumatic amnesia."_

 _While Snow lightly gasped as she put her hand over mouth, Bigby's eyes widened in shock at what the doctor had just told them. He ran a hand through his hair as he mumbled, "... God-damn it…" He than turned to Swineheart, "... So what you're saying is, not only does he not remember that he's a wolf, but, he doesn't remember anything else about his life?"_

" _Not necessarily Mr. Wolf." Swineheart said, "He may not remember how he received his injuries, but he does attain some of his memory, such as his own name, and that he is an Erased. Granted it's only a small amount, but he hasn't forgotten completely."_

" _Still, this is awful." Snow said as she took in everything._

" _Is there anything we can do to help him remember?" Bigby asked._

" _I'm afraid not." The doctor replied before explaining, "You see, post traumatic amnesia is a very serious issue, in many cases. It could take days or even years for him to remember something. There are even some cases where a patient may never be able to remember where he came from or what happened. Though given that some of his injuries show possible signs of physical abuse, it may be best for him if that part of him stays forgotten."_

 _Bigby and Snow couldn't help but mentally agree with what Swineheart was saying, as they couldn't help but sympathy for the young boy. Who knows what kind of a background the poor kid came from?_

 _Snow started to say, "... Is there anything else we could do for him?"_

" _Just make sure he gets plenty of rest and plenty to eat over the course of the next few weeks." Swineheart instructed, "And I strongly advise that he does not know he can change into a wolf. Who knows how it could affect the boy's health."_

" _Yeah, noted." Bigby said._

" _Well…" Snow said, "Thank you for coming on such short notice. Really, we appreciate it."_

" _You're most welcome." Swineheart said, "Miss White, Mr. Wolf, have a nice day."_

 _With that Swineheart took his leave, leaving Bigby and Snow alone in the tiny apartment. "That poor little boy." Snow said, "... I wonder what could've happened to him."_

" _It's not like we can just ask him." Bigby said as he took a seat in his chair, "How should we handle this?"_

 _Snow took a moment to think of their options, "Well… We certainly can't send him back out into the streets, or even to the orphanage since they might treat him badly. Crane and Bluebeard are out of the question, the Mayor is busy as it is and has no time for taking care of children, Beauty and Beast have there hands full with Noel and Daffodil, Flycatcher can't do it because of the loss of his wife and child, and I don't think I can care for two…"_

 _Snow thought silently to herself before she looked over to Bigby, "... Maybe… You can take care of him?"_

 _Bigby nearly fell off his chair at what Snow had suggested, "Me!?" Bigby nearly yelled, "You want me to take care of him!? Snow I couldn't-"_

" _Well, why not?" She questioned, "From where I'm standing, I think you're capable of raising a child. Who knows, you could inspire him to do so much good for Fabletown."_

" _But I already told you, I've got enough on my plate as it is."_

" _I know you do, but look at this way. That boy is only a child, and he needs someone to look up to. You could be a role model to him instead having another to fear you. I know a lot of people are scared of you because of your past, but… Think of this as a small start. This boy basically lost his whole life, and who knows if he had a family or not. With Fabletown, hell the world the way it is, they're going to be a lot of things that are going to scare him, maybe even break him, but he needs to know that even if he does go through any of them, he won't be alone."_

 _He tried to think of a counter argument for this, but he soon came to realize that in a way, Snow was right. Who knows what happened to that kid before they found him, and he does need someone he could look up to, especially now. The little boy needs to know that he won't through life alone._

 _Snow was right, who no better than him?_

" _Alright." Bigby finally said, "I'll see what I can do."_

 _Snow smiled to him as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "Thank you Bigby." She looked at the watch on her wrist, and noticed the time. "I have to go pick up Autumn." Snow said, "I promise, I'll help you in anyway I can."_

" _Thanks, I appreciate Snow." Bigby said, as he walked her to the door._

" _I'll see you soon." Snow said as she exited the apartment, shutting the door behind her. Heaving a sigh, Bigby went into the spare bedroom and found the little boy still wide awake, but sitting up against the pillow provided. He noticed that Bigby had entered the room._

" _Oh… It's you." Grim said as he brought his knees close to him._

" _Yup, it's me." Bigby said, as he took a seat by his bedside._

" _Did… Did that lady leave already?" Grim asked curiously._

" _She couldn't stay long I'm afraid." Bigby replied, "She had something to attend to."_

 _The little boy nodded, before he looked to Bigby with curious eyes, which the Sheriff was quick to notice this. "Is something wrong?" He asked him._

" _Um…" Grim said, unsure if he should even ask, "... Are you sure we haven't met before? I think I've seen your face but… I can't figure out where…"_

 _Bigby was a bit hesitant as he replied, "... No, actually this is the first time we've met."_

 _Grim looked down sadly as he tightened his grip on the covers. "I'm sorry… I'm just… I'm sorry that I asked."_

 _Bigby shifted in his seat slightly, as he heaved a deep sigh. "Your name is Grim right?" He asked him._

 _Grim nodded his head to him._

" _Grim, I know you're confused right now, and that you have a lot of questions, but… Really you shouldn't worry too much about it."_

" _Mister… Did I… Have a mom and dad?"_

 _Bigby was taken back by this but had replied honestly, "... I can't lie to you, maybe you do, maybe you don't. I'm not entirely sure myself."_

 _Grim nodded his head sadly; Bigby comforted him by patting him on the head, "Don't worry… For now on, I'll be looking after you."_

 _Grim looked up to him and for the first time since he had been there, he let out a small smile. "I guess that's okay." He said, "You do seem nice."_

 _Bigby couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that, "You have no idea."_

 _The young boy tilted his head slightly again before asking, "So… If I'm going to be staying with you, do you think it's okay if I know you're name? That way, we're not strangers."_

 _Bigby simply replied to the young boy, "My name is Bigby Wolf, and I'm the Sheriff here in Fabletown."_

* * *

 _(_ _ **Opening Theme: Serial Experiments Lain Opening-Duvet Performed by Brad Holmes**_ _)_

 _-_ _ **Present; Business Office**_ _-_

It had only been a few hours since they found the head of the Fable and yet as both father and son walked to the Office it had seemed like just an ordinary day, well for the most part. As Bigby and Grim walked towards the Business Office they couldn't help but notice a long line leading towards the door.

"Oh great." Grim said as he saw the long line, "Looks like Crane's been slacking off again."

"Just keep moving." Bigby said to him.

Just as Grim went to open the door, a voice came over them.

"What're blind? You two don't see there's a line?"

They both turned to see a man by the name of Grendel, though many knew him as by the name of Gren. Grim met him a few times when he and his other friends, hung out with Dusty though he never actually talked to him. For the past few weeks, Dusty's mom had gone missing and for the time being she had been staying with her mom's sister Holly.

He, Autumn and Noel noticed that she would leave work early as to try to find her, and they heard that Gren was helping her out with the search. Grim didn't know Gren personally like Dusty did, but he could despite the pissed off tough guy act, he is a good person, despite what he did in the past.

"I've been standing here a half-hour already." Gren said as he walked up to Bigby, "You get to just walk in? It must being the Sheriff and his kid. You two get to do whatever the fuck you like. Honestly, I don't know how a kid like Dusty works for you people."

"Yeah, nice to see you to Gren." Grim said with a bit of sarcasm.

"In case you haven't noticed, we work here." Bigby said.

"And what great work you two do, Sheriff." Gren said to Bigby harshly.

"Hmm, well that didn't seem very genuine." Bigby said with sarcasm of his own.

With that, Grim opened the door, and they both entered. Just as the door closed they both could've sworn that he heard him say "Fuckers". As they entered the Office, they saw Autumn, who wore a different outfit from last night. She now wore a yellow shirt that had a white collar, with white cuff links; with the shirt she wore a green skirt with a dark green ribbon. She had on a pair of gray knee socks and a pair of brown shoes to go with it.

She stood by two more people, looking slightly older than himself and Autumn and the other looking slightly younger.

The one who looked slightly younger looked to be fifteen. She had shoulder length brown hair and in the middle of her bangs that was in the shade of light blue. She wore a shirt that was purple and green striped with a key logo and had on a pair of short blue jeans with red boots to go with it. She was seen with a pair of cat ears on her head and the right sleeve was wrapped up to her elbow, and she looked like she had a choker that she was wearing looked to be half a moon.

The other looked to be seventeen, and he was slightly taller than everyone else. He had hair that had been somewhat long and was in the shade of red. He wore a short sleeve black hoodie with a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans to go with his outfit. The three of them were watching as Crane argued with Snow, though Grim couldn't help but wonder what exactly.

Both Bigby and Grim heard Crane yell at Snow, "-And you're telling me there's a killer on the loose!? You two are always tittering behind my back! Because you're the one bringing this to me Miss Snow! The one who's daughter simply 'stumbled' upon this catastrophe on our very doorstep!"

"Psst, Dusty, Noel." Grim said, getting the attention of the one with cat ears and single arm and the other with red hair.

"Oh hey Grim." The girl with cat ears, named Dusty had whispered, "Nice of you and the Boss to finally show up."

"What's going on?" Grim asked the two of them.

The one with red hair, named Noel replied, "... Well, Miss White told us about the head Autumn found last night, and than she told Mr. Crane about it. As you can tell, he's not taking it very well."

"The last thing I need with Mayor Cole away is a hysteria!" Crane yelled, "Do you understand me!?"

"Yes!" Snow said, "Of course I do, but-!"

" **DON'T INTERRUPT ME MISS SNOW!** "

"You asked me a question!"

"Don't change the subject! You are to blame for this unpleasantness Miss Snow!"

"I brought this news to you as soon as I can!"

"You are trusted to keep things running smoothly around here! This is a disaster! Who else is to blame if not you!?"

Bigby quickly stepped in between them. "Hey look, it isn't anyone's fault!" Bigby said getting their attention, "Instead of trying to assign blame, maybe we should figure out how to catch the fucker who did this."

"Really?" Crane said, turning to Bigby, "Is that how you see things?"

The group followed Crane over to his desk as he took a seat in his chair, "Need I remind you that you Bigby are the one in charge with protecting the citizens of Fabletown. Your failure to do so has cost someone their life and the safety of the entire community. Tell me that one of you at least have something? Are there any leads, suspects? Anything? Anything at all? Any shred of evidence that you all know what the hell you're doing?"

Grim soon spoke up, "Well, there's one suspect. I can't say for sure but… It could be her pimp."

Crane's eyes widened at this as he sat back in his seat, "Wait, you mean to tell me she was…?"

Bigby nodded his head in reply, "She was worried about a money situation."

"Well this is just wonderful!" Crane said with sarcasm, "Not only was a Fable killed, but it was a Fable hooker to boot!"

"That's putting it lightly." Dusty said as her ears on her head twitched slightly.

"So, Mr. Crane, what do you want us to do?" Noel asked curiously.

Crane sighed as he said, "Since you all are the only ones that know about this, you all need to get a handle on this situations quickly and quietly. The last thing we need is all of Fabletown knowing that there's a killer amongst us! Snow!"

Snow flinched slightly at her name before asking, "Yes… Sir?"

"Call Vivian right this minute and let her know that I'm coming in early for my massage." Crane said, clearing his throat at the last part.

Grim, Autumn, Dusty and Noel had looks on their faces that pretty much asked, "What?"

"A massage in the morning?" Dusty asked turning to her friends. Grim and Noel shrugged in reply while Autumn scratched her head in confusion. Crane looked around on his desk, noticing that a certain something was missing from his table.

"And where was the bottle of wine you were to purchase?" Crane asked.

" **AND WINE!?** " Grim, Dusty, and Noel couldn't help but exclaim out of confusion, while Autumn's head tilted as if she were a curious dog. Snow stood up from where she sat, as she was surprised to see the bottle missing. Crane groaned at this as he stood up, "Don't bother! Forget it! You can't do anything right."

Crane proceeded to leave the office as he walked past Bigby and the teens. "Do your job Sheriff." Crane said, "And make sure that mutt of yours stays out of places where he doesn't belong."

Grim knew the mutt comment was directed towards him as he growled. He turned to Crane, "You know what you- **MMF!?** "

Grim was cut off suddenly when Noel and Autumn launched their hands over his mouth Noel lifted him a few inches off the floor so that he would turn around. Noel's back was towards Crane when he turned his attention back to them.

Grim heard Dusty laugh awkwardly as she said, "Don't worry Mr. Crane, you can count on us! As always!"

With that Crane went out the door, and Dusty sighed with relief while Noel let go of Grim. He took a deep breath before turning to Noel, "Guys!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Autumn signed, "We didn't mean too!"

Noel soon added, "Trust me when I say, with the attitude Mr. Crane has right now you would've just pissed him off even more!"

"He makes a good point." Dusty said.

Snow shook her head before turning to Bigby, "That could've gone better. Guess I should've taken your advice and waited."

"Wasn't gonna say that I told you so." Bigby said.

"That's alright you don't have to say it." Snow said, "It would've been better if we had more to offer him."

"Okay seriously though, who gets a wine to a massage this early in the morning!?" Dusty exclaimed.

"You're questioning only that now!?" Grim exclaimed.

Autumn had signed, "Maybe it's a stress thing."

"Yeah, could be." Noel said, "Oh what am I saying? It can be cause it's fucking Crane!"

Soon enough they heard something fall over in the Office. They turned to where they heard the noise only to find that a green monkey with wings had emerged from hiding. "Is…" He said, "Is he gone?"

"Yes, thankfully." Snow said.

The green monkey flew from his perch and onto Snow's desk that was just nearby; as he flew they noticed that he was holding a bottle of some sort. Though from the reading the label they all knew what it was as he tried to get it open.

" **BUFKIN!** " Practically everyone had yelled.

The green monkey with wings named Bufkin jumped at this; nearly dropping the bottle. He quickly set it down as he gave an innocent smile to them. "G-Good morning everyone." Bufkin said.

"Seriously? You're drinking this early?" Grim asked him.

"That is not cool man!" Noel scolded.

"Where exactly did you get that bottle?" Dusty asked.

"It was right Mr. Ichabods desk." Bufkin replied.

"And, don't you think that, it _**MIGHT'VE**_ belonged to him?" Snow asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"... Maybe?" Bufkin said as his smile grew wider.

Everyone couldn't help but groan at this, before Snow took the bottle away from him. As she put the bottle away somewhere where he couldn't find it, she said to him, "Bufkin get the books."

"Which books?"

"The ones with all the Fables in it."

"I don't think that was any more specific." Bigby said.

Snow let out a sigh, as she turned back to Bufkin, "Bring the first three."

Bufkin nodded, "Be back in a few minutes."

Sprouting his wings, he flew to the maze of bookcases that laid just within the Office to get the books that Snow had asked for. "He knows the ones I'm talking about." Snow said to them, before she went to Crane's desk, "There's bound to be information on her here… Somewhere. We'll be able to get her real name when Bufkin finds the books. In the meantime, the rest of you have a look around, maybe one of you can ask the Mirror."

Bigby couldn't help but groan slightly just at the mentioning of it.

Snow picked up the phone as she started to dial a number, "I really need to get this appointment thing squared away, but let me know if you need anything."

"Got it Miss White!" Dusty said with a smile.

"I'll go see if I can help Bufkin out." Noel said as he headed towards the bookcase.

"Me too." Autumn signed.

Noel and Autumn went to the bookcases while Dusty and Grim were left with Bigby. He looked to Dusty and Grim before saying, "Come on, let's go check with the Mirror." Grim and Dusty nodded their heads before following him over to the a single mirror that had been sitting against a couple of shelves. Dusty tapped on the mirror lightly.

"Hey Mirror?" Dusty said, "Are you up? We need to talk to you."

"Dusty quit it!" Grim said pulling Dusty off, "You know you're not going to wake him up like that."

"Hey, Mirror, we've got a question." Bigby said.

Within moments, their reflections disappeared and was replaced with a green head and green clouds just behind it.

"You know the rule." The Mirror reminded Bigby.

Grim and Dusty noticed that Bigby rolled his eyes, and they couldn't help but snicker slightly at his expression. "Look we don't have time for this shit." Bigby said to the Mirror.

"Your patience is callow, you're needlessly cruel…" The Mirror started to rhyme, "... But have some respect for historied rules."

Bigby couldn't help but groan, "I really hate this…"

"Yeah… I still don't see the reason why you need a rhyme." Dusty said with a monotone expression.

"It's alright I got it." Grim said to the two of them, before turning back to the mirror, "Mirror, mirror, if you're able, tell us all about this Fable."

"See?" The Mirror said, "If he can do it, why can't you?"

"You know, I'm just about to two seconds away from kicking a hole in you." Bigby said.

"Make that two boss." Dusty said jokingly.

"There's no need for that." The Mirror said, "Fine. Of which Fable do you wish to know?"

Bigby and Dusty stumped since they didn't know what exactly their question should be to the Mirror. Honestly they didn't know who the girl's name was or even if she was a Fable, but they were both surprised as ever when they heard Grim say, "The Woodsman."

"Huh?" They both said.

Grim ignored their reactions and asked the Mirror, "Can you, show us the Woodsman?"

The Mirror nodded and did just that; it showed him walking down a block while holding his head. "Where is he?" Dusty asked the Mirror.

"What you see is complete, the Woodsman stumbles down a street." The Mirror replied.

"No shit, which street?" Bigby asked.

"I'm sorry Bigby." The Mirror told him, "I can only show you what can be seen."

"Well, it was worth a shot." Dusty said with a shrug.

"Yup." Grim said as he crossed his arms over his chest, "It doesn't help that we don't have her name yet."

Bigby turned to his son and asked, "Why did you want to see the Woodsman?" Grim turned to him, as he gave a somewhat confused look.

"You were sure that it was her pimp, what changed your mind?" Bigby had clarified.

"My mind didn't change, but…" Grim replied though his words began to trail off.

"But…?" Dusty said, as she was curious as well.

"... But I'm just making sure we don't rule anyone out." Grim finished, "Not only is her pimp a suspect but the Woodsman was the one to see her last, so… He might have something to do with that lady's death."

"You could be right." Bigby said, "Though we won't know until we ask."

"Too bad we don't know where he's heading." Dusty said.

Before Bigby could say anything, they heard a loud noise coming from the bookshelves nearby. The three of them looked at one another, as they knew who exactly was causing that noise.

"Mirror, show us Noel and Bufkin." Bigby said.

The Mirror did just that as it showed Noel and Bufkin. The three of them were surprised to see that Noel and Bufkin were fighting over the bottle of wine, that Snow had taken from Bufkin earlier.

"What in the hell are those two doing!?" Dusty exclaimed.

" **NOEL! BUFKIN!** " Grim shouted, making the two in the Mirror stop what they were doing.

" **YOU TWO, PUT DOWN THE BOTTLE AND GET BACK TO WORK!** " Bigby yelled.

" **R-RIGHT BOSS!** " Noel yelled as he stumbled slightly before running off.

" **STILL LOOKING!** " Bufkin shouted, before the image disappeared from the Mirror.

"God-damnit Noel…" Dusty said as she face palmed.

"Idiots." Bigby and Grim said at the same time.

* * *

- _ **Nine Years Ago; Central Park**_ -

 _It had been nine weeks since the young boy Grim began to live with Bigby Wolf. For the first week he stayed, it wasn't really going as well as he would've hoped. For the past three weeks Grim had stayed, he felt depressed. He had two reasons for this. One was the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything from before the young boy had met the Sheriff. He started to face facts that even if he did have a family he wouldn't be able to remember them at all, even if he tried his hardest._

 _During those weeks he had been with Bigby, with Snow's help they managed to buy him a few clothes for him to wear. He sat on one of the swings that was available; he wore a dark navy blue winter coat with a pair of black snow pants with a pair of gray snow boots and mittens to go with it. Bigby wasn't too far where he was, as he sat by himself eating cookies that Bigby had bought for him earlier that day._

 _When he looked up, he saw that he was talking to the lady he had met along with Bigby._

 _He lightly pushed himself on the swing as he continued to eat the cookies from the bag. He looked to the sound of laughters as he was drawn to the other children. He watched as they played game with one another. He let out a sad sigh as he looked at the empty swing beside him. He couldn't help but feel a little lonesome as watched the other children. If he had to be honest, he was jealous of them. He watched how happy they were when they hung out with each other and talked with one another. He gave out a sad sigh knowing the fact that if he had friends, he knew that he would never be able to remember them no matter how hard he tried._

 _Before he could move from his swing, he felt someone lightly tap him on the hand. He looked up and saw a young girl around his age with orange hair tied into small pigtails at the top of her head, and light purple eyes with a yellow ribbon around her neck. She wore a light green jacket over a casual golden yellow dress with brown snow boots and mittens. He noticed around her neck she had a notepad with a pen attached to the top of it hanging loosely around her neck. The girl looked at him with curious eyes, as she tilted her head slightly to the side._

" _Um…" Grim said awkwardly, "Can I help you?"_

 _Surprisingly the girl had said nothing, and pointed to the bag of cookies he had on his lap._

 _Grim didn't understand at first as he looked at the bag of cookies, but he seemed to have get the idea after a moment of processing._

" _Oh… You want a cookie…?" He asked as he pointed to the bag._

 _The girl smiled softly as she nodded her head. Grim dug into the bag and took out a cookie before handing it to the girl. She happily took it from him, before taking a seat on the swing that was beside him. She munched on the cookie as Grim couldn't help but look to the girl with confusion._

 _Just who is she, he couldn't help but think._

 _It wasn't long before the little one finished munching on the cookie, he saw her take the notepad from her neck and started to write something. She than turned it to him and saw what it had read._

" _Thank you for the cookie, it's delicious. What's the flavor?"_

 _Before Grim could speak he was surprised to see her remove the notepad from her neck before flipping the page and handing him the pencil. Grim looked at her confusingly but shrugged slightly; he took the notepad and pencil from her before writing his response._

" _It's called vanilla bean chocolate." He said aloud as he wrote, "Not many people like the flavor."_

 _He turned the notepad over to her and she read his answer. She wrote down her response before allowing him to turn it back to him. He read the response, "That's a shame, more people should try it."_

 _Grim soon wrote his question, as he said aloud, "Is it alright if I ask, why are you writing instead of speaking to me?"_

 _Grim showed her his question before she wrote her response, "I have a voice but I'm afraid I can't hear it myself, or anything else around me."_

 _The young boy's eyes widened at this, before his eyes showed sympathy. Seeing the this the girl quickly wrote, "Please don't be sad. It's not as bad as one would think."_

" _But you can't hear anything, doesn't that make you sad?" Grim asked as he wrote._

 _The girl read it and shook her head, before writing, "Just because I'm unable to hear, doesn't mean I can't enjoy everything else."_

 _Grim looked to the girl before him in awe, as he couldn't understand how she could still have a smile without the ability to hear everything that's around her. It was strange yet he couldn't help but find the girl intriguing. He wanted to get to know her better, really he did. He felt something in him, become alive, and it was strange to him, but he did._

 _It wasn't long before the girl wrote to him, asking him, "Can you tell me your name? I'd very much like to know it, if that's alright with you?"_

 _Grim smiled lightly before writing on her notepad, as he said, "My name is Grim, what's your name?"_

 _She wrote in response, "My name is Autumn White. It's very nice to meet you Grim."_

 _Grim's eyes widened slightly at the last name when he read her response. "White?" He read aloud, looking up at her astonished. He asked as he pointed to the name next to her first, "Your last name is White?"_

 _The girl named Autumn looked at him with confusion, as she wondered what he meant. When she soon saw where he was pointing she pointed over to the side to someone. Grim followed in the direction where she was pointing and his eyes widened slightly when he saw a beautiful young woman talking to Bigby._

 _It was the lady Snow White, the same lady he met nine weeks ago._

" _Snow White is your mom?" Grim asked as he wrote down his question._

 _Autumn nodded her head after reading his question._

 _Grim wrote again, as he asked, "You're an Erased, like me?"_

 _Autumn nodded her head again before writing on several pages and showing it to him, "She became my mom a little while ago. I used stay on the streets with others like us somewhere far away from this place. A lot of the adults were mean to many of us, especially to others like me. A Fable found us, told us that we would have a chance to find a home, if we went with her. She said we would be happy, and we would be able to laugh and play all we want. She was able to give us what she promised."_

 _Grim asked as he started to write, "Where did they take you?"_

 _Autumn had written, "They called it the Little Star's Home. The adults were kind to us there. They allowed us to play all the games we want. We ate as much as we pleased, and we slept under warm blankets and soft pillows. Many of us were happy and some of us, go off with other Fables to new homes."_

 _Grim looked to the floor, and wondered about something. The name Little Star didn't sound familiar to him at all. Autumn noticed the look on his face. She wrote asking him, "Are you from there too? I don't remember seeing you before."_

 _Grim replied to her before writing, "I don't know. I can't remember. There's a lot of things I can't seem to recall…"_

 _Autumn's face softened at the way Grim looked, and by what he had told her. It wasn't long before an idea perked into her head. Grim took notice that she started to write again, before she held up what she had written down._

" _Do you want to make a snowman with me?" Was what it had read._

" _But I might not be good at it." Grim said as he wrote at the same time._

 _Grim could hear Autumn giggle a little before she started to write again. "That's okay." Autumn's writing had read, "I might not be good at it either."_

 _Grim couldn't help but laugh a little as Autumn giggled again. Time had gone by fast as the sun already began to set in the horizon. From a distance Bigby and Snow watched as the two children played with each other. They built a snowman together, made snow angels and even played a game of tag. Snow smiled warmly as she saw how happy Grim looked as he played with Autumn. She turned to Bigby as to say something but noticed that he was smiling too. Bigby soon noticed that she was looking right at him, and immediately went back to the way he usually looked when talking to people._

" _I saw that smile Bigby." Snow said amused._

" _I wasn't smiling." Bigby said sounding slightly embarrassed._

" _You were, I saw it myself." She said to him, "You're happy that this worked, right?"_

 _Bigby didn't reply right away as he turned back over to the young children playing in the distance. Finally he replied only by nodding._

" _I'm happy too." Snow had admitted to Bigby, "That smile really does suit him."_

" _He just seems like a different kid now." Bigby said to her._

 _Snow checked the time on her watch, "Well we better call it a day."_

 _She waved over to Autumn and Grim; the two children took notice of Snow and went over to the both of them. Snow held out her hand to Autumn and the young girl knew what this meant as she took her hand. "It's time for us to go home." Snow said to Grim._

" _Already?" Grim asked sounding a bit sad at this._

 _Autumn patted him on the shoulder comfortingly and smiled to him reassuringly. Snow kneeled down to his level and said, "Don't worry Grim, you'll be able to play with her again soon."_

 _Grim perked up at this, "Really?"_

" _Really." Snow replied._

 _Autumn soon wrote down in her notepad again before turning it over for Grim to read. "Let's play again when we meet, okay?" It read._

 _Grim smiled brightly at this as he nodded his head to the young girl, as she herself couldn't help but smile back at him before waving goodbye as she walked with her mother in hand, before he walked with Bigby in the opposite direction. They both eventually stopped in a diner where they had dinner; they both ordered hamburgers though Grim had a side of fries, as well as soda that was in the flavor of grape. He happily drank from it as Bigby drank from his cup of coffee._

" _I see that you had a good time with your new friend." He said._

 _Grim smiled and nodded, "I'm glad that I went to the park today!"_

 _Bigby chuckled a little before he noticed that Grim had a slight change of expression on his face. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrow a little before had asked, "Something the matter?"_

 _Grim shook his head a little, "I was just thinking about what Autumn told me."_

" _Oh, and what would be that be?" He asked._

 _The young boy twiddled his thumbs before he had replied, "Well… I was uh…"_

" _What? I can't hear you."_

" _I um… I was wondering… Would it be okay to call you dad for now on?"_

 _At this suggestion, Bigby had nearly choked on his cup of coffee which had made Grim jump in his seat. He coughed a little before regaining his composure. He wiped some of the drink off of his chin before he had asked, "Why would you want to know something like that?"_

" _Like I said, Autumn told me." Grim had explained, "If there's someone that cares about you, you can look up to that person as a parent. That's why I asked."_

" _You consider me a parent to you?"_

" _Why wouldn't I? I've known you for a while now, and you're nice to me. I trust you, isn't that reason enough?"_

 _Bigby set his coffee down on the table as he sat back in his chair. He had to process what the young boy had just told him. He actually thought of him as a parent? He didn't think anyone, let alone a kid like him think of him as father material. Hell even he himself didn't think that. Though he had though back to what Snow said when they found the young boy. He does need someone to look up to, and if it meant he could call him what he felt was most comfortable, than he supposed it would help build more on his trust._

 _With a sigh he had soon replied to the young boy which made his expression brighten, "Yeah, don't worry, it's alright."_

* * *

 _-_ _ **Present**_ -

They had soon gotten the books that they needed to look for the name of the deceased. The whole group looked for what appeared to be hours and so far they couldn't find a clue or even a picture to who she was, it couldn't help but irritate some of them as the search for a single name turned fruitless for them.

Dusty said as she groaned, "I feel like this is taking an eternity! How long have we been looking?"

"About 15 minutes." Noel replied as his face was stuffed in a book.

The young teen couldn't help but groan at this as she hit her head on the desk. Autumn patted her back comfortingly before signing to her, "Hang in there. We'll find something."

"Easy for you to say." Dusty said, "Unlike me, you love to read."

It hadn't been long till Bigby spotted something peculiar in one of the books. It looked to be a family ring that the girl had worn on her finger; There was just one problem.

"Aw hell." He said, getting the attention of Grim and Bufkin.

"What's wrong?" Grim asked.

"I can't read any of this shit." He replied.

Grim looked over to what Bigby had been reading and couldn't help but make a face at it. "You're right… That is hard to read."

"Let me take a look." Bufkin said as he walked across the desk.

"Thanks." Bigby said.

Bufkin smiled at this, "We look out for each other."

The Sheriff couldn't help but roll his eyes before he pointed to an image within the book. "This one here." He said, "Which symbol is this from? Which family or story?"

Bufkin examined it a little closer, thinking to himself. "Hmm, that's an odd one." He said before he tried to pronouncing it, "Allair-lie-rau? I'll go look it up." With that he flew over to the stacks of books that were nearby while the rest pondered on what it could mean.

"Allair-le-What now?" Dusty said as her ears twitched curiously, "What is that gibberish?"

"He means Allerleirauh." Noel said, "That's German for every kind of fur."

"You know German?" Grim said surprised as he gave a quizzical look.

"Dad taught it to me." He replied.

Soon enough Bufkin returned with a large book, as he placed it on one of the many stands. He turned to a certain page before he found what he had been looking for. "Here it is." He said, "Donkeyskin."

"That must be it." Autumn signed.

"What does it say?" Snow asked.

Bufkin started to read the description aloud, while Snow signed over to Autumn as to translate. Though Bufkin laughed at a certain part, "Donkeyskin girl, also known as Donkeyskin, also known as Ass Skin. Prefers to be called Faith, poetic."

Dusty and Grim couldn't help but stifle a laugh earning a look from Bigby. "Thank you Bufkin, but we don't need the commentary." Snow said, "What else does it say?"

Bufkin soon continued, "The story of Donkeyskin. Once upon a time there lived a great King with a beautiful Queen. The Queen grew ill and had her husband promise to marry only the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. After a long search, it became clear that the only girl that could match the Queen's beauty was…"

He paused for a moment as he saw what else had been written. After what seemed like an hour, he final finished his sentence, "... _**His daughter. Faith.**_ "

Everyone was shocked to hear this kind of thing from the story; Grim and his friends especially. They had no idea such a story even existed, especially at the fact that her father wanted something like that.

Bufkin soon continued the story, "She had a magical cloak, made from the skin of her father's most prized donkey, that would hide her beauty so she could escape his kingdom. Eventually she married a prince who could see past the cloak, and knew her true beauty… And they lived happily ever after."

Once more there was silence, as they all felt solemn for the poor girl, and the life she had previously.

"Shall I…" Bufkin started to say, "... Shall I mark it Miss Snow?"

"Yes… Please." Snow replied.

Bufkin took a stamp that sat on a small table just nearby before he pressed it against the page; the word "Deceased" was now seen across the page.

"What about the husband?" Dusty asked, "What's his name?"

"Lawrence." Bufkin replied, "Prince Lawrence."

The whole room fell in silence again still having mixed thoughts about the whole story about the girl named Faith. "Well… We got what we were looking for." Snow said breaking the silence, "Her name is Faith, and she's married to Prince Lawrence. I mean that's more than we-"

"Her name _**was**_ Faith." Bigby soon said cutting her off.

The whole room fell into silence again at the sound of Bigby's voice; the whole group couldn't help but feel solemn for the girl once named Faith. Once more the silence was broken, "We gotta talk to the husband." Bigby had stated. Most of them group looked to him in shock by this.

"Why the husband Boss?" Dusty asked, "Did you think he did it?"

"Come to think of it, I remember reading in some mystery novels that in some cases it can be the person you least expect. It could be Lawrence secretly hated Faith secretly."

"But what reason would he have to hate her?" Grim asked.

"Look at this part nothing would surprise me." Bigby said, "We can't rule any possibility of who did it."

Autumn soon signed over to Grim, "Maybe we should check with the Mirror again. We can see where Lawrence is and maybe we can find Faith."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Grim said.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Dusty said with a shrug.

The small group had soon gone back to the Mirror to check with their newfound evidence. After having saying the rhyme (Well in a sense ^_^) the Mirror once again asked, "Of which Fable do you wish to know?"

"Sorry to bother you twice about this Mirror but we have a couple of questions about a few Fables." Grim said, "First, can you show us where Faith is?"

The Mirror soon replied as Grim translated for Autumn, "Through powerful magic, her whereabouts concealed. Unfortunately for you… _**These lips are sealed**_."

The teens looked to one another confused at this, while Bigby himself had been taken back having heard that phrase before.

"I'm sorry what?" Noel said to the Mirror.

" _ **These lips are sealed**_." The Mirror repeated, "It's not my choice of phrasing, it's simply the way it has to be."

"These lips are sealed?" Dusty said still confused, "I don't know what that is, but that doesn't sound like any kind of spell I've heard of."

"You sure?" Noel asked, "Maybe a powerful witch has something to do with it?"

"If you're talking about what my teacher taught me it's like I said, it doesn't sound like a spell." The Cat Witch said.

"Maybe it's a curse?" Autumn signed.

"Could be." Grim said as he signed to Autumn.

"We'll worry about it later." Bigby said to the group, before he looked to the Mirror, "Let's see about Prince Lawrence."

Just like that, the Mirror showed them where Prince Lawrence had been. They saw that he had been an apartment, though it didn't show his face, only his legs and feet. They could've sworn they saw blood on the knife that was just on the floor by his feet.

"What in the world?" Grim said astonished.

"I don't know what I see right now, but all I have to comment is that it doesn't look good." Noel said.

"What has he been doing to himself?" Dusty asked.

Bigby soon turned over to Snow, "Hey, do you know where this is?"

"Where's what exactly?" She asked.

"Prince Lawrence. Do you know where he lives?"

Snow gave it some thought before she replied, "Well, if he's a prince, he was probably relocated in the South Bronx. Yellow building with… Red window shutters?"

"Red frames." Bigby added.

"Yup that's the one." She said, "I can take us there."

"Sounds like a good place to start!" Noel said with a smile.

"Let's get started than." Grim said as he went to the door. Before he could even take another step, Bigby stopped in his tracks surprising him. "As much as I appreciate the help, maybe you and your co-workers could stay here this time." Bigby said to him, "Run the office while we're gone."

"What!?" Grim nearly yelled, "You can't be serious about that!"

"I'm always serious." Bigby retorted, "We're not sure what to expect from all of this. You could be put in danger so it's best to stay here where it's safe."

"Dad, I'm literally sixteen, not five!" Grim told him, "I think I can handle this case just fine!"

Autumn soon placed her hand on his shoulder getting his attention; he turned over to her giving her a look of confusion. Autumn soon signed to him, "Not that I'm against you or anything, but maybe you should listen to Mr. Wolf this time around."

"How can you say that Autumn?" Grim asked her as he signed to her at the same time, "For all we know one of our own could be in trouble!"

"Autumn's got a point here." Dusty pointed out, "Look at it this way, the Boss AKA your father is just concerned is all. That and, with the case starting off with us literally finding a head, we're not sure what could be on this case this time around."

Grim tried to think of a counter argument, but knowing his two best friends he knew it would be pointless, since well… It was both Autumn and Dusty he had been talking to; Especially when they both teamed up on him. "You win." He said to his father.

"Good." Bigby said.

"Now that that's settled, we should get going." Snow said to the Sheriff.

Just than the phone in the office started to ring, mostly startling some of them. "I've got it!" Noel said as he ran to the phone before picking it up. "Hello, this is the Business Office, Noel speaking." Noel said to whoever had been on the phone.

The whole group heard what sounded like mumbling on the other line. "Yup-Yeah-Yeah he's here-Sure, hold on." Noel said before he handed the phone to Bigby, "It's for you Boss."

Bigby went over to Noel before he took it the phone from him, putting it to his ear. Turns out it had been none other than-

" _Bigby, it's me Toad! You there?_ "

Bigby let out a pained sigh as he rolled his eyes a little. "I take it you still don't have your Glamour?" Bigby said to him.

" _Now's not the bloody time!_ " Toad had said, " _Listen right? There's a bloke upstairs going through the Woodsman's things! You gotta get here before he-Wait hang on._ "

Bigby soon heard a loud smash on the other end of the phone that drew Toads attention.

" _ **OY**_ _! Shit-_ _ **HEY**_ _!_ "

And just like that, the call was disconnected, leaving Bigby and the others perplexed. "Is everything okay?" Grim asked.

"What was that about?" Snow had also asked.

"Hard to say." He replied to the both of them, "There's something going over at Toad's place. We should get over there."

"Well isn't that just grand!" Dusty said, "Now we have two people to worry about! Things can't get any worse!"

"It doesn't really help if you go rubbing it in." Noel said.

After reading their lips, Autumn soon wrote on her chalkboard again, tapping Bigby on the arm so that he could read what she wrote, "Dusty has a point. The situation right now doesn't make it any better."

"Did Toad say who was there?" Snow asked the Sheriff, "Was it the Woodsman?"

"I don't know it's possible." Bigby replied, "Whoever it was though, it didn't seem like he wasn't happy to see'em."

Snow soon pondered a thought, before she suggested, "... Maybe Prince Lawrence is going to have to wait."

This took the teens back a bit at this, Grim especially as he went up to Snow, "You can't be serious about that!" Grim said to her.

Autumn soon signed to her mother, "I know Mr. Toad is a citizen of Fabletown as well, but Lawrence could be in more danger."

"Autumn… I understand what you're trying to say." Snow said, knowing her daughter was reading her lips, "But, you can't know that for sure."

"You didn't see what we saw through the Mirror though!" Dusty soon added, "He could be in some serious trouble! Tell her Boss!"

Bigby soon give it some thought himself before he told the teens, "I know you mean well about this, but right now it seems like Toad is in need of some assistance. We'll have to check on Prince Lawrence afterwards."

At this point they wanted to say something as to give them a reason to go to Prince Lawrence first, and yet they chose not to. They knew they couldn't argue with Bigby a second time; Grim knew this from personal experience. He walked away from them as he leaned on Ichabod's desk with his arms crossed over his chest. At this, both Snow and Bigby proceeded out the door.

"Stay here." Bigby said to the teens, "And please don't do _**ANYTHING**_ stupid."

And just like they were gone after the door closed shut. Autumn, Noel and Dusty went over to Grim as to give him some company.

"Well… This is certainly an unexpected turn of events." Dusty said, her cat ears twitching at the top of her head.

"We can't exactly blame them though." Noel added, "You gotta remember, Mr. Toad's got a kid with him, so who knows, he could be in more danger."

Autumn looked to Grimm, as she noticed he hadn't responded to Noel or Dusty. "Are you okay?" She signed. Autumn tried to look at him directly, but soon noticed the look in his eyes as he smiled a little. "Grim?" She signed now concerned. He stood up, and this time, Noel and Dusty saw the look he gave on his face.

"Oh God no." Noel said as his eyes were widened a little.

"I know that look anywhere." Dusty said.

"What look?" Grim asked as he grabbed a hold of his hoodie that had been sitting on the coat hanger.

"That one!" Noel exclaimed, "Your planning on doing something stupid aren't you!?"

"When are the one to talk about something stupid?" He asked.

"Grim Wolf, your planning on going to Prince Lawrence aren't you!?" Dusty said.

As Grim went to retrieve something from one of the drawers, he put it in his pocket as he replied, "... Maybe."

"You can't be serious!" Noel told him, "You know first hand what it's like when Bigby is angry! The second he finds out you left, he'll be on your ass faster than you could say, 'I'm the Gingerbread man!'"

"Or worse if Crane finds out!" Dusty added, "He'll ban you from the Office if he finds out!"

"You guys worry too much." Grim said, taking one of the spare keys from the Office, "I'll be back before they even realize I've left."

"But you know it's true, because Bufkin will rat you out!" Dusty soon said.

Grim gave them a really look, before he pointed over to Snow's table, and their they saw Bufkin just passed out on the table, while hugging the wine bottle. Most of them had an unamused look on their faces at this. "Seriously?" Noel said, "He still drinks even though we told not to…."

"How is he even passed out? He only had one bottle." Dusty said, "I'll never understand that monkey…"

"Guys… Look…" Grim soon said to his friends, "Whether or not you guys want to come with me, is up to you. But we have to at least check it out; if not my dad or Snow than one of us."

The three of them looked to one another as they gave each other their own glance. Autumn smiled before she signed, "You can count me in than. Wherever you go, I'll follow."

"That goes for me too." Dusty said said with a grin as she grabbed her beanie hat, "It'll be another way for me repaying you."

Grim nodded at the both of them, before looking to Noel, as he had a hesitant look on his face. Grim drew his own conclusion before he turned to the door, with Dusty and Autumn following behind him.

"Wait." He soon heard him say.

Grim turned back around before he noticed him picking up a set of car keys as he said to him with a smile of his own, "You're gonna need a ride."

( _ **Ending Theme: Red Garden Ending 1-Rock the L.M.C Performed By L.M.C**_ )


	4. Chapter 4: The Donkeyskin Coat

( _ **Opening Theme: Serial Experiments Lain Opening-Duvet Performed by Brad Holmes**_ )

Bigby and Snow were walking over to the Tenement Building where they had gotten a call about Mr. Toad. They had decided to get off a few blocks down as not to alert whoever had been in the Woodsman's apartment; that and it helped them to avoid the traffic since it had currently been rush hour.

Bigby was just finishing telling Snow, exactly what had happened last night between him and the Woodsman.

"... And than we ended up going out the window and I landed on Toad's car." Bigby said.

"By the sound of it, you guys made a real mess of things." Snow said to him.

They soon saw the building in view, but right before they could enter it they saw someone through the open gap, where him and the Woodsman fell. They didn't catch a glimpse of the person, but whoever it had been, they noticed him disappear from their sights fast when he had realized they were watching.

"Someone's in there?" Snow said a bit surprised.

"Wait here." Bigby told her, before going on ahead of her.

He went to the second floor towards the Woodsman's apartment. He started to look around the whole apartment as he noticed that no one, not even the Woodsman was there; Whoever had been there was now gone.

"Ah shit." Bigby had cursed.

He went back down the stairs, seeing that Snow had just entered the building with a look of concern on her face. Just when Snow was about to say something they both heard a couple of familiar voices from just down the hall.

" _I'm sorry! I'm sorry!_ "

" _That's enough, alright?! Just shut it!_ "

They both exchanged looks before they approached the door to Toads apartment were the sobs were now clear; it had been from Toads son, TJ. Bigby went to open the door, when Snow gently took his hand, "Be nice in there, okay?" She said softly.

Bigby didn't reply, all he had done was silently nod to her, before he gave a knock. "Hey Toad." He called out, "Are you there?"

The sobs seemed to have died down as there had been no answer from neither Toad or TJ. Bigby went to open the door, that had been unlocked surprisingly, which started to stir up his suspicions. Both him and Snow stepped inside only to see that Toad was wearing his favorite brown hat, and TJ had been with him, with his head down and he was sobbing quietly.

"Bigby, and Miss White!" He said taking notice of them, moving in front of TJ, "Surely you didn't come all this way just for my bother!"

A blind could tell that Toad was being a nervous nelly; more so than usual considering. The minute Bigby made eye contact with him, Toad immediately went to avoid his gaze. "Sorry about this Bigby." Toad eventually had said, "It's embarrassing to have to admit but-Eh-I thought that there was someone else in Woody's place. There wasn't though! Not when I checked-Nothin' but a leaky drain pipe! Imagination got the best of me. So ya-False alarm."

"We did see someone." Bigby told him, "But they took off as soon as we got here."

"Is that right?" Toad said, before turning to his son, "I guess your dad's ear have a year or two left. Haven't totally gone to the dogs eh?"

This didn't make any sense to Bigby or Snow; Why would Toad take all the trouble to call the Office, just to tell them that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Something wasn't right.

Snow took notice that TJ was in tears the whole time, and she approached him slowly as not to frighten him. "Are you alright?" She asked him with a gentle voice.

"He's fine Miss White." Toad answered, "Just stung his little toe. Better swimmer than a walker like his dad."

Snow gave Bigby another glance over to him, communicating non verbally. Bigby understood what she was trying to tell him, and gave her a nod before Toad had told them, "I guess you'll be taking off now. No need to hang around anymore."

Bigby told him, "Look Toad, I don't care if your hearing is working or not, but someone was here and something is going on. And just so our trip wasn't for nothing, I'm gonna take a look around a bit before we leave, okay?" Toad had tried to say something but he couldn't find the words as Bigby soon added, "The longer you talk, the longer this takes. So just stand over there and shut up."

"Alright, okay." Toad said walking over to the side, "I just don't wanna waste your time is all. Have a seat, have a cup of tea, whatever you like."

Snow soon kneeled down to TJ's level and said, "Phew! Grown-ups, am I right?"

TJ didn't respond as he only kept his gaze to the floor just as Snow said, "You know I heard from Flycatcher that you have a pretty awesome insect collection. I'd really love to see it if that's alright?"

This had gotten TJ's spirit up as he finally picked up his head to look at her, "It has a weevil."

"Cool!" She said with a smile.

She soon followed TJ to his room and closed the door behind her to give Bigby his space, as he started to look around the apartment the minute the door closed with a click. The first he spotted had been the broken lamp that was on the floor. The lamp had been broken in half, and saw some of it in pieces. From what Bigby could tell at least, judging how the lamp had been, it wasn't thrown across the room; it was broken on impact with something.

He decided to get an outside opinion.

"How did this happen?" Bigby asked, turning to Toad.

Toad looked over to the broken lamp, "Fucking hell." He said, "Damn thing must've fallen off the goddamn table."

Bigby's curiosity rose a bit, "Right… It just fell off the table."

"Either that or the boy was faffin' about it." Toad immediately added, "Plain' sods and swordfish. Who knows with the lad."

If he had been any other person, he would've believed his story; than again he was Bigby as he noticed Toad sounded off at his words. He soon noticed that the outlets on the side of the wall and a dust ring on the table where the lamp once sat as he could tell from the shape of a hexagon. After a moment or two, of thinking he turned back to Toad.

"Did you move something?" He asked.

Toad flinched a little, "What do you mean?"

Bigby pointed over to the table, "There's a clean space in the dust over there."

Toad started to sweat a little, as he answered, "Uh… Maybe one of Juniors toys or something. I mean, who knows?"

He still sounded off, which only rose his suspicions; he was quick to think of a scenario. Toad noticed the expression on his face. "If you're gonna say something, out with it!" Toad said growing impatient.

"You just said it was one of TJ's toys but it wasn't." Bigby said to him, "The lamp used to be right here on this table…" Bigby noticed Toad started to sweat again, "Toad… Just tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened here mate!" Toad couldn't help but say loudly, " _ **NOTHING!**_ And why did the lamp have to be there?! Out of all the bloomin' pointless inquires!"

"Because the lamp was _**ALWAYS**_ over here Toad." He said as he pointed to the table again and to where he found the lamp, "It was there and now it's over there. The space in the dust is from where you moved it."

Toad began to stammer, "I-I did some-Refiguring, that's it! Who fuckin' cares!"

He was quick to know, that Toad had been lying; that was strike one for him.

"Bloody hell mate!" Toad said turning away from him, "C'mon, get off with this!"

Bigby continued to look around the small apartment, quickly spotting something else out of the ordinary; this time it had been a poker for the fireplace that had been provided in the apartment. He picked it up and saw the tip of it stained with a bit of blood.

"Toad, are you bleeding?" Bigby soon asked him.

The question took him back, "Why is that-"

"The blood on this poker. It's still fresh."

"Oh that." Toad said before he showing his hand, "I cut me hand. Ran around like a tit to pick out the wrap. Must've got some on the furnishments."

"Sounds painful."

"Oy! Don't you go mother henning now! The wound didn't sit very long you know. Perks of being a Fable I 'sppose. And a frog."

Bigby soon took notice of how the rug looked to have left a trail. He saw that it lead to a spot on the wall; It was stained with red, just like the poker. Noting how the blood and a small trail looked, it looked as though there had been a fight of some kind, or an accident, either way it struck him as odd.

He looked back over to Toad.

"So what happened?" He asked.

"What?" Toad said a little confused.

He showed them the poker, "This. The blood on the poker is still fresh. I can tell by the door.

"Oh, that!" Toad said as he struggled with his reply, "I was-Uh-Poking at the coals and it slipped-It sliced my foot open like a seashell. Hurt like a shit ugly thing!"

Bigby raised an eyebrow at this as he had been more skeptical; Toad noticed this from him, "Okay, Sheriff now what?"

"You said you cut your hand." Bigby said, "Now you're telling me you cut your foot."

Toad's eyes widened a little at this, "O-Oh, right! I meant to say, I cut my hand, and _**THAN**_ I dropped it on me foot! Ruinous flip of events really."

"Right…" Bigby said, not buying the story one bit.

He soon went towards the wall where the other stain had been. He proceeded to do a practice swing, as if he was attacking someone. Toad couldn't help but groan at this.

"Oh my God… Will you not make a big faff outta this?!" Toad said annoyed, "There's nothing to solve here Sheriff! I'm telling you everything that happened! Why don't you believe me!?"

"Why do you think?" Bigby said, "The apartment is a goddamn mess. From the looks of it, it was after a struggle, or a fight, and I don't know why you're going through all this trouble after you called me."

"But I'm no-"

"And you're gonna make it worse for yourself if you keep the act up any longer."

"I'm not bull-shitting you! Honest!"

"... We'll see about that."

It had been strike two for Toad. The more he could piece things together, the closer he got to the truth.

He soon noticed something else out of place.

There appeared to be something on the window sill. When he opened it, he noticed it had been a pair of marks. It looked to be skid marks, as if someone had been dragged from it. From the skids, he could see that there had been three or four fingers at least.

Obviously it could only belong to one person, given the size.

"What is it now?" Toad asked, noticing the look he had been giving, when he looked in his direction again, "Look if it's about the blood again, I-"

"No, it's not." Bigby told him, "There's marks on the windowsill. You mind telling me how it got there?"

Toad started to get nervous again, "O-Oh, that!" He soon said, "Funny story, last night when I'd come out, I was in a down right tizzy mate-As you would be-and I plum forgot the keys to the place! I had to climb through the bloody window!"

"... Really?"

"Ye-yeah! Scared Junior half to death."

The Sheriff raised an eyebrow at this, "Than… Why was the lock busted?"

"Eh?" Toad said not quite understanding him.

"The lock." He soon clarified, "I noticed it earlier when I walked in. It looked like someone kicked the door down. Does that have anything to do with the blood?"

"For Christ sake-" Toad started to say, "The fuckin' door has been busted for weeks mate! Rotted, just like everything else in this bloody place!"

There it was, the third strike. He struck Toad out.

"Bloody hell Bigby!" Toad said, "What sinister bit have you uncovered this time!? I left the tap water running!? Didn't sort out the recycling!? What is the point of all of this mate!?"

"Why did you climb through the window than?" Bigby asked, "Why climb through it? You said it yourself, the lock's been rotting. You wouldn't need a key to get you in."

"Fuckin' hell-Just what are you on about mate!?" Toad said as he had been losing his patience, "After the state I was in, I didn't have me head! That's all it was! **I FORGOT THE FUCKIN' HANDLE WAS BUSTED! AND I'LL TELL YOU WHAT, IT'S EMBARRASSING YOU BRING UP ALL THIS SHIT!** **SO QUIT IT WITH THE THIRD DEGREE!** "

Bigby only glared, making Toad sweat, that is if he could sweat.

"Bigby c'mon!" He pleaded, "I'm begging for mercy here old boy! I was looking forward to a nice afternoon, just me and my son! And you've taken up enough of the day, all this sniffing around my personal belongings! I'm sorry I called, really! But will you please, just bugger off!"

"Not yet." Bigby replied.

Toad's jaw practically dropped at this, " **NOT YET!?** You say-To _**MY**_ face that you think I'm hiding something from you! Well you've gone too far now! Nothing's here! So when!? When are you going to leave!?"

"When?" The Sheriff said surprised, "I'll tell you when I'll leave-I'll leave when you start telling the truth!"

"But I've told the truth mate! Jesus Christ, what more do you want!? I cut me hand, I broke my lamp, and I forgot me keys so I climbed the sill! There's no more to the story!"

Bigby could only roll his eyes at this response, "Do I really have to spell it out for you? The stories that you told me all make no sense. You _**DIDN'T**_ bump the lamp, you _**DIDN'T**_ cut yourself with the poker, and… You _**DIDN'T**_ forget your keys."

At this, Toad had been speechless, as he couldn't help but stutter; Bigby soon kneeled down to his level, "... So… Wanna tell me what's going on now?"

Before Toad could reply, TJ and Snow soon came back into the room, as they had been finishing up a conversation."

"-She doesn't think of me much." TJ said, "I don't think."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Snow said, before turning to Bigby, "Any luck?"

Toad went over to TJ to give him a hug, and that's when Bigby and Snow noticed something off. There had been blood trailing down the back of his head.

"Mr. Toad…" Snow said, "... _**You're bleeding.**_ "

Toad felt the back of his head, as he felt the blood; he hung his head down in defeat and shame, as it finally hit him that he had been found out."

"Take off the hat." Bigby told him.

Toad stayed silent as he did as he was told; removing the hat they saw a small yet noticeable cut. He took a seat nearby as Snow began to treat it; all the while, he finally told the truth.

"It was that butcher." He said, "One of the Tweedles, Dum or Dee. You gotta strip'em down to their Johnnies before you could tell which is which. He came bargin' in, screamin something about what the Woodsman had. Or thought he had, I don't know. He tore up the place-Beat me up when I said I didn't have it. I tried to go out the window but he pulled me back in. It's been a hard morning, I can tell you that."

"Do you know what he was looking for?" Bigby asked.

Toad shook his head in reply, "I really have no idea. I would've told you-Really I would. But… He said if word ever got back to him… He'd come back and kill my boy… I even tried to give the bastard his coat, but he wouldn't take it."

"Whose coat?" Snow asked.

"... The girls…" Toad replied.

"Dad sometimes borrow things from people who live here." TJ said, earning a look from Toad, "... Um… Sometimes?"

"Borrow?" Bigby said giving a quizzical look.

"I don't steal nothin." Toad clarified, "The turnaround here would astonish you mate. I merely… Reposses what's been left behind."

"Well, we'll be taking the coat now." Snow told Toad, "If she has a next of kin, or family…"

"Alright than." Toad said before turning to TJ, "Fetch em the fur."

TJ nodded, before he went over to the fireplace to get the coat.

"Fine bit of dress it is." Toad commented.

Snow went to help out TJ when she noticed he was having trouble. She pulled it out and it revealed to be the Donkeyskin Coat, just like the one in the story.

"... But I wouldn't wear outside." He commented.

She laid the coat down on the couch, and Bigby soon noticed something in the Donkey's mouth; He removed it.

"It's an envelope." He said.

"Fuckin' hell, of course!" Toad said sarcastically, "With my luck it's a map to some bloody doubloons!"

"It's addressed to Prince Lawrence." Snow said, "Do you wanna give it to him, or…"

Bigby shook his head in reply, "It doesn't seem right to open another man's mail. Let's try and give it to him."

Just than, they were startled when the phone started to ring; TJ went to answer it.

"Well…" Toad soon said, "... It has been quite a surprising day for all of us, hasn't it? I'd see you out, but I'm afraid of drippin' any more blood in the place."

"We should go to Lawrence." Snow said, "Hopefully he can tell us more on what's going on."

"Yeah, let's g-"

Before Bigby could finish, he felt TJ tug on his leg getting his attention. "Someone wants to talk to you." He told him as he held the phone.

Bigby and Snow looked to one another, before Bigby took the phone from him.

"Hello?" He said.

A voice soon came from another line that sounded like it belonged to a girl; though the voice didn't belong to Dusty.

" _Am I speaking to the Sheriff right now?_ " She said.

"I'm him. Who is this?" Bigby asked.

The girl sighed, " _Oh thank God!_ " She said relieved, " _Okay, look, Mister! I'm with your son, Grim right now, but he's in really bad shape! You have to get over here, now!_ "

At this, Bigby's eyes widened in shock, " Where are you right now!?"

( _ **Ending Theme: Red Garden Ending 1-Rock the L.M.C Performed by L.M.C**_ )


End file.
